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Restrictive OTC regulations for institutions amid Hong Kong ETF launch

Restrictive OTC regulations for institutions amid Hong Kong ETF launch


Hong Kong has emerged as a key player in the race to become Asia’s premier crypto hub, as it launched the region’s first spot crypto ETFs on April 30 with a day-one inflow of over $130 million across Bitcoin and Ethereum. To gain deeper insight into the implications of this milestone and Hong Kong’s evolving virtual asset landscape, CryptoSlate spoke with HB Lim, Managing Director of APAC for BitGo.

Lim brings a wealth of regulatory and crypto industry experience to the conversation. Before joining BitGo, a leading institutional crypto custody provider, he was a director at Abu Dhabi Global Market, where he helped craft its progressive crypto regulatory frameworks. Lim previously held roles at the Monetary Authority of Singapore regulating financial institutions.

In this exclusive interview, Lim shares his perspective on how Hong Kong’s spot ETF offerings could impact market forces and investor participation in the region. He also assesses Hong Kong’s overall virtual asset regulatory framework and how it compares to other contenders vying to be Asia’s crypto hub, like Singapore and the UAE.

Lim provides candid insights into areas where Hong Kong’s crypto regulations could be enhanced, such as creating licensing options for independent custodians and calibrating rules for institutional OTC trading desks. He also discusses his outlook for digital assets in Hong Kong and APAC and BitGo’s plans to support the region’s growing ecosystem in the coming years.

With Hong Kong’s spot ETFs set to launch on April 30, how do you anticipate this will impact the region’s crypto market dynamics and investor participation?

Currently, the primary markets for spot crypto ETFs are in North America and Europe. This means that such ETFs are not available for trading during much of Asian trading hours, which is incongruous with the 24/7 market that crypto is. As such, having spot crypto ETFs in Hong Kong provides investors with more complete trading hours to access…

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