HSBC Hong Kong, a branch of the international bank, is collaborating with local authorities to bring digital currencies into use for cross-border payments. Luanne Lim, the bank’s CEO, told the South China Morning Post that HSBC aims to bring efficiency, transparency, and cost savings to traditional finance through tokenization of financial instruments and central bank digital currency pilots in Hong Kong.
In June 2023, HSBC made history by allowing their customers to trade Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) futures through their investment platform. In November 2023, the bank partnered with a Ripple-owned firm to create a blockchain initiative for institutional clients interested in real-world assets (RWA) hosted on-chain.
In addition, regulatory bodies such as the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) are ready to accept applications for funds with cryptocurrency exposure. According to PitchBook’s analysis, 11% of global venture capital funding in the blockchain and crypto sector was directed towards enterprises based in Hong Kong and Singapore, which is significantly higher than the 2% allocation reported in 2021.
