FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) spoke at Hong Kong’s FinTech Week 2022 and said that Hong Kong had real potential to become the Web3 hub of Asia, as reported by Forkast News.
SBF said that locations like Dubai and the Bahamas emerge as significant crypto hubs in their regions; however, the picture is much more blurry for Asia. While Singapore and Korea carry the potential to become crypto hubs of the area, SBF said Hong Kong would claim that title.
He stated:
“If you look at what the crypto hubs will be in the world, I think the Bahamas looks like one of them, Dubai looks like one of them, but if you look at the East, it’s not as obvious. It could be Singapore, could be somewhere like Busan in Korea, but I think there is a real chance it ends up being Hong Kong.”
Hong Kong on Crypto
Based on Chainalysis‘ 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index, Hong Kong ranks 46 amongst 146 countries evaluated based on their crypto adoption levels. According to Gemini’s Global State of Crypto, Hong Kong leads crypto-adoption in the Asia-Pacific region, with 24% of the population owning crypto assets. More than half (51%) of the crypto owners in Hong Kong acquired their crypto assets in 2021.
Hong Kong released a policy statement on Oct. 31 and announced its plans to create a “vibrant sector and ecosystem” for crypto. According to the report, Hong Kong will allow crypto ETFs and develop pro-crypto regulations. The statement also revealed that the Hong Kong government has been working on pilot projects like NFT issuance for Hong Kong Fintech Week, Green Bond Tokenization, and a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
Crypto executives agree with SBF
As soon as the statement was released, many prominent crypto executives other than SBF posted supportive comments for Hong Kong’s new motive.
CEO of New World, Zheng Zhigang, also spoke at the Hong Kong Fintech Week and became one of the first to support the statement.
CEO of Crypto.com, Kris Marszalek, joined in the supportive crowd by quoting the news on Twitter and saying:
“Great news for the entire industry coming from HK today, highlighting support for crypto and a desire to re-build a vibrant crypto hub. We wholeheartedly support this development.”
Co-Founder of 100x Arthur Hayes also shared his excitement and support via his personal Twitter account.
On the other hand, TRON (TRX) founder Justin Sun spoke for both TRON DAO and HuobiGlobal and shared his supportive comments.
.@trondao and @HuobiGlobal actively support the Hong Kong government’s new crypto policy. See you tonight at 10:00pm @HuobiGlobal live! We will actively apply for crypto Hong Kong license!
— H.E. Justin Sun🌞🇬🇩🇩🇲🔥 (@justinsuntron) October 31, 2022
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