by Michael Titus | Jul 29, 2026 | Crypto
On 9 July 2026, the SFC gave Hong Kong’s licensed virtual asset trading platforms and internet brokers twelve months to take SMS one-time passwords off their login screens. The deadline is 8 July 2027, and large internet brokers are told to move now rather than...
by Michael Titus | Jun 4, 2026 | Crypto
The day the SFC approval lands is the day the easy part ends.A lot of founders treat the virtual asset trading platform licence as a finish line. You spent eighteen months and a fortune getting it, so it feels like one. The SFC sees it the opposite way. To the...
by Michael Titus | Jun 4, 2026 | Crypto
In June 2025, Singapore gave a slice of its crypto industry an ultimatum: get licensed by the end of the month, or stop. The rule hit firms incorporated in Singapore that served only customers abroad, the offshore-only model a lot of exchanges and token shops had...
by Michael Titus | Jun 4, 2026 | Crypto
In short: In Hong Kong, issuing a fiat-referenced (“specified”) stablecoin is a regulated activity overseen by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) under the Stablecoins Ordinance, which commenced on 1 August 2025. If your business issues — or...
by Michael Titus | Jun 4, 2026 | Crypto
If you charge a client for a view on Bitcoin, Ethereum, a stablecoin or any other virtual asset, and you do that from Hong Kong, you’re about to need a licence. Same if you run a virtual asset portfolio on a discretionary basis for someone else. The regime...
by Michael Titus | Jun 4, 2026 | Crypto
Since the turn of this decade, the conversation about virtual asset regulation in Hong Kong was really one conversation: do you need a VATP licence or don’t you? By the end of 2026, there will be at least five separate licences sitting under the regulatory...
