Hong Kong securities regulator updates crypto policies, citing market developments

The Securities and Futures Fee (SFC) of Hong Kong introduced it would replace its insurance policies on digital forex gross sales and necessities “in gentle of the newest market developments and enquiries from the trade”.

In an Oct. 20 discover, the SFC mentioned underneath the up to date pointers, sure digital forex merchandise will solely be out there to skilled traders. As well as, intermediaries within the crypto house “ought to assess whether or not shoppers have data of investing in digital property” previous to dealing with any transactions.

“Though digital property are gaining popularity in some components of the world, the worldwide regulatory panorama stays uneven,” mentioned the SFC. “The dangers related to investing in digital property recognized by the SFC again in 2018 proceed to use.”

The up to date necessities thought-about digital property “complicated merchandise” underneath the SFC and topic to the identical pointers as comparable monetary merchandise. The fee particularly talked about crypto exchange-traded funds and merchandise issued exterior Hong Kong as examples of complicated merchandise.

Associated: Lower than 50% of Hong Kong retail crypto traders conscious of related rules: Survey

Many crypto customers in Hong Kong are nonetheless reeling from the scandal surrounding the JPEX crypto alternate. In September, the SFC introduced that it had acquired greater than 1,000 complaints associated to JPEX, with customers claiming losses totaling tens of millions of {dollars}. Native police later arrested six JPEX staff for working an unlicensed crypto alternate.

It’s unclear if SFC’s up to date insurance policies are the direct results of the occasions surrounding JPEX, however the regulator mentioned in September it could improve its efforts to maintain crypto traders knowledgeable of dangers. In October, the Hong Kong Police Power and SFC fashioned a working group aimed toward monitoring and investigating potential unlawful actions involving digital property.

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