Hong Kong Web3 Companies Invest Millions in VASP Licenses

Local news outlet Foresight News reported on June 27 that Web3 companies in Hong Kong are spending between 20 million and 200 million Hong Kong dollars ($2.55 million and $25.5 million) to acquire Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) licenses. Sources elucidated:

“Since traditional financial institutions have no relevant prior infrastructure, and have gone from zero to one in various aspects such as products and teams, the cost [associated with VASPs] has been very high. However, even for an experienced cryptocurrency institution, the cost of obtaining a license is not cheap.”

Foresight analysts reported that Hong Kong subsidiaries of exchanges, including OKX, BitgetX, HashKey Pro, OSL, and Gate.io, have already commenced operations.

As of June 27, OKX had 8,800 registered consumers in Hong Kong and a total trading volume of $150 million in China’s particular administrative region (SAR).

Hong Kong introduced new VASP licensing requirements for cryptocurrency exchanges on June 1.

The Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong must receive appropriate disclosures on user statistics and company finances, among other items, for regulatory approval.

By the middle of next year, exchanges that do not comply with the requirements will be required to cease operations in the SAR.

The Hong Kong Virtual Asset Consortium published its virtual asset index on the same day, which included prominent cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether in addition to altcoins and privacy tokens.

The new organization aims to provide rating services and indexes to facilitate retail crypto trading in the SAR. Huobi, KuCoin, and Bitget, among others, back it.