Some NFT firms and platforms do not have the right controls to counter money laundering, terrorist financing and sanctions evasion, according to the department’s assessment.
Gate.HK, the Hong Kong arm of cryptocurrency exchange Gate.io, says it took ‘a proactive step’ to withdraw its application.
Trading could begin later this year, as the ETF issuers sill have to get the green light before launching the products.
The prices of Hong Kong’s three spot ether ETFs jumped by more than 18 per cent on Tuesday, as trading volume picked up this week.
HBGL, which operates Huobi HK, has withdrawn the licence application for unspecified reasons, requiring it to close the crypto exchange under the city’s virtual asset regulations.
Police in China’s northeastern Jilin province made the arrests in connection with a scheme that sent US$296 million to South Korea.
China has begun to test paying some state employees through its digital currency, but the trial is not making much impact in the e-CNY’s adoption as most quickly and automatically switch their salaries to cash.
A mix of mainlanders and international visitors showed up at Bitcoin Asia amid surging interest owing to a crypto bull market and recently launched ETFs.
The new machine is designed to help miners stay competitive after the rewards for mining bitcoin were reduced by 50 per cent after the recent “halving” event.
Harvest CEO Han Tongli said he ‘doesn’t rule out’ applying to get the spot crypto ETFs on the Stock Connect scheme as long as ‘everything goes smooth’ in the next two years.
FTX said in a court filing it owes about US$11.2 billion to its creditors. The exchange estimates it has between US$14.5 billion and US$16.3 billion to distribute to them.
The city’s three ETFs that invest directly into bitcoin saw US$5.5 million change hands on Friday, down from US$8.6 million in their Tuesday debut.
Six bitcoin and ether ETFs saw US$12 million in trading on Tuesday, compared with US$4.6 billion for US bitcoin ETFs on their first day.
Blockchain made up about 15 per cent of the talks at Money20/20 Asia this year, just slightly below the proportion of talks on AI, as interest remains high in Asia.
Once the most powerful figure in the crypto industry, Zhao stepped down as Binance’s chief last November, when he and the exchange admitted to evading anti-money-laundering requirements.
The world’s largest crypto exchange saw its share of bitcoin trading outside the US drop to 55 per cent from 81 per cent, according to a research firm.
Spot bitcoin and ether ETFs in Asia could be attractive to investors looking to avoid US tax laws, but the market is still relatively ‘tiny’.
Bosera Asset Management, HashKey Capital, Harvest International and ChinaAMC are all working on spot crypto ETFs after the SFC’s first conditional approvals.
HashKey will facilitate the sale and purchase of Toncoin, the native token of the TON blockchain, which was started by Telegram Messenger.
Crypto industry executives were touting the benefits of bitcoin at the four-day Web3 Festival amid anticipation for the approval of spot ETFs this month.
Vitalik Buterin made a rare last-minute appearance at Hong Kong’s biggest Web3 event for a 20 minute technical talk on blockchain tech.