Hong Kong Hashkey Introduces Avalanche Trading

Hong Kong cryptocurrency market Hashkey, the first company in the Special Administrative Region (SAR) to receive a retail crypto license, will launch Avalanche trading on its platform.

Nevertheless, there is a caveat. According to the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, only accredited investors can trade AVAX on the Hashkey exchange.

The SFC currently only permits professional investors to trade the remaining altcoins, which include Bitcoin, Ether, and Tether.

Since August, when retail crypto trading became regulated in Hong Kong, the SFC has imposed significant restrictions on exchanges.

Hashkey Hong Kong, unlike its global counterpart, requires users to deposit the equivalent of $1,500 into their exchange accounts as part of Know Your Customer verification.

In June, it was reported that cryptocurrency exchanges are spending over $25 million to build the necessary infrastructure for a Hong Kong Virtual Asset Provider (VASP) license.

Meanwhile, Hashkey Hong Kong has an estimated 24-hour trading volume of just $5.3 million across three cryptos, a fraction of its global peers.

Ironically, the introduction of a regulated crypto regime did not appear to prevent evil actors from engaging in illegal activity.

In September, during the Token2049 conference, the largest financial fraud in Hong Kong’s history was exposed with the demise of the JPEX cryptocurrency exchange.

Police have accused JPEX of embezzling more than $178 million from investors; at the time of the alleged theft, the exchange was not registered with the SFC.

Since the repercussions, the SFC has begun publishing a list of crypto exchanges deemed non-compliant in the SAR.