Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission Increases Personnel for Crypto Supervision

Reported by Cointelegraph, Hong Kong's securities regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), is ramping up its efforts to monitor the crypto industry by adding four additional personnel to its staff. The new hires are intended to help the SFC better supervise the activities of local virtual asset (VA) providers and assess the compliance and risk of allowing retail investors to trade virtual assets on regulated platforms.

The move comes ahead of a new licensing regime, which will allow greater retail crypto investment. Previously, trading platforms licensed in Hong Kong were only allowed to serve professional investors or those with portfolios of at least HKD 8 million ($1 million). The new regime, approved in December 2022 as an amendment to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Bill, takes effect in June 2023.