The Securities and Futures Commission’s (SFC) has on 19 February 2025 rolled out a new regulatory roadmap setting out its core guiding principles to continue Hong Kong’s development as a virtual assets (VA) hub. The roadmap adopts the “ASPIRe” slogan representing its 5 pillars – Access, Safeguards, Products
SFC revamps and expedites licensing process for VATPs
Introduction
The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced on 16 January 2025 that new applicants for a virtual asset trading platform (VATP) licence will be subject to a revamped and expedited external assessment process.
Previous external assessment process
VATP licence applicants who had submitted their application on or before