in hong kong Bureau of Financial Services and Treasury with (FSTB) Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) aims to bring comprehensive licensing rules for cryptocurrency trading and custody services to the Legislative Council in 2026. According to the joint statement made on Wednesday, the legislative proposals were matured after collecting more than 190 pieces of feedback during a two-month public consultation. The planned framework will be shaped under the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism Regulation (AMLO). Regulatory architecture securityIt is designed based on requirements similar to the brokerage standards in the 1990s.
Hong Kong’s 2026 Goal
FSTB and SFC’s 2026 calendar cryptocurrency It focuses on defining trading and custody services, which are two critical links in the ecosystem, under the same roof. The designed regime will reference broker-like expectations for licensed intermediaries seen in securities markets. Thus, compliance, governance and operational standards of market participants will be clarified.
On the storage side, the priority is positioned as protecting customer assets with private key security. Trading intermediation rules aim to frame by whom, under what conditions and with what compliance obligations the intermediary activity will be carried out. Both titles are edited by SFC cryptocurrency marketIt is among the parts of the ASPIRe road map, which aims to improve access to the Internet.
The SFC has also opened a consultation on an additional area of oversight that would extend to cryptocurrency advisors and managers. Regulators are planning standards comparable to securities advisory and portfolio management based on the principle of “same business, same risk, same rules.” The deadline for comment submission was announced as January 23.
Hong Kong’s Vision to Become a Cryptocurrency Hub
Hong Kong administration cryptocurrency industryIt aims to make the city the preferred cryptocurrency hub in Asia by creating a regulatory climate that supports the development of . While the race with Singapore comes to the fore in the competitive axis, there is a clear contrast with China’s hardening approach towards cryptocurrencies.
Recent policy moves have also strengthened the basis for the 2026 agenda. While SFC announced new licensing mechanisms for the over-the-counter (OTC) transaction regime in February, it had announced that it was conducting an investigation on derivative products and margin transactions in cryptocurrencies. In April, staking services for licensed exchanges and funds were approved under strict asset control and risk disclosure conditions. Spot cryptocurrency-based exchange traded funds (ETFs) have been traded in the country since 2024.
The aforementioned integrity aims to bring the market infrastructure closer to the framework demanded by institutional investors and to gather activities into a licensed, auditable line. The legislative plan, which extends to 2026, combines the search for standardization on both the operating permit and storage security side in a single track.
