Interactive Brokers Launches Crypto Trading in Hong Kong

Interactive Brokers, one of the world’s largest brokerage firms, has enabled retail customers in Hong Kong to trade cryptocurrencies.

The service is provided in collaboration with OSL, which is recognized as one of the pioneering cryptocurrency exchanges in Hong Kong to have a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP), as stated in the announcement dated November 28.

The developers wrote, “Interactive Brokers’ retail investors in Hong Kong now have immediate access to digital asset trading via a unified platform powered by OSL.”

Interactive Brokers’ website states that Hong Kong clients may possess Bitcoin or Ether alongside stocks, derivatives, commodities, foreign exchange, and other assets in their personal accounts.

A commission ranging from 0.20% to 0.30% of the transaction value is applied to each trade.

It was reported last week that Interactive Brokers had been granted a license in Hong Kong to trade virtual assets for retail purposes.

Nevertheless, at this time, the license exclusively authorizes the firm to facilitate transactions in Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The OSL exchange owns BC Technology Group, which on November 14 disclosed that blockchain company BGX had invested $90 million in equity in the business.

Prior to this, the organization had deliberated on the sale of the OSL exchange for $128 million, or 1 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Despite being among the initial jurisdictions to grant licenses for cryptocurrency exchanges, a succession of exchange controversies has impeded the progress of the industry to some degree.

One of the major cryptocurrency exchanges in the region, JPEX, failed in September, resulting in an estimated 206 million Hong Kong dollars ($1.6 billion) in losses and 66 arrests.

Hounax, an additional unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange in Hong Kong, allegedly defrauded 145 residents of 148 million Hong Kong dollars ($18.9 million) via a Ponzi scheme on November 25.