Is crypto legal in Hong Kong? Regulation & rules (2026)

Hong Kong's dedicated licensing regime for fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers came into force, requiring HKMA licensing, 100% high-quality liquid reserve backing, and minimum HK$25m capital. It made Hong Kong one of the first major jurisdictions with a purpose-built stablecoin law.

The FSTB issued its second policy statement, introducing the LEAP framework (legal/regulatory streamlining, expanding tokenised products, advancing use cases, people/partnerships) and committing to a unified regime covering exchanges, stablecoin issuers, dealers and custodians, plus regular tokenised government bond issuance.

Hong Kong's Legislative Council enacted the Stablecoins Ordinance, establishing the statutory licensing framework for issuers of specified (currency-referenced) stablecoins overseen by the HKMA. This was the legislative milestone preceding the regime's August 2025 commencement.

The SFC published a 12-initiative roadmap across five pillars (Access, Safeguards, Products, Infrastructure, Relationships) to expand licensing to OTC and custody services and deepen Hong Kong's virtual asset market. It set the agenda for the next phase of regulatory build-out.

The SFC conditionally approved spot bitcoin and ether ETFs from ChinaAMC, Bosera/HashKey and Harvest, which debuted on the Hong Kong exchange on 30 April. Hong Kong became the first major Asian hub — and globally the first — to list a spot ether ETF.

An unlicensed exchange, JPEX, collapsed amid fraud allegations affecting over 2,000 investors and roughly HK$1.4bn in claimed losses, triggering dozens of arrests. The case tested the new licensing regime and prompted the SFC to publish lists of licensed and suspicious platforms.

The SFC upgraded OSL and HashKey Exchange to serve retail investors, the first platforms permitted to offer retail virtual asset trading (initially limited to bitcoin and ether). It marked the practical opening of regulated retail crypto access in Hong Kong.

The SFC's dual licensing regime for centralised virtual asset trading platforms took effect, requiring any platform operating in or marketing to Hong Kong to be licensed and allowing retail access subject to investor-protection rules. Pre-existing platforms were given transitional deadlines to apply or close.

LegCo passed the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Bill 2022, making it an offence to operate a virtual asset exchange without an SFC licence. This statutory basis underpinned the June 2023 trading-platform regime.

The FSTB published Hong Kong's foundational policy statement signalling openness to a regulated virtual asset hub under 'same business, same risks, same rules', flagging a VASP licensing regime, a stablecoin framework, possible VA ETFs and tokenised green bonds. It set the strategic direction for the current framework.

The SFC announced a regulatory framework placing virtual asset portfolio managers and fund distributors under its oversight (professional investors only) and an opt-in approach for trading platforms. This was Hong Kong's first formal step toward regulating crypto-related activity.