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Binance Hong Kong affiliate HKVAEX shuts down operations after withdrawing crypto licence application

  • HKVAEX has announced that its website will become inaccessible from May 1 and is advising users to withdraw funds this month
  • The exchange’s Binance ties have raised questions about its bid for a crypto licence from the SFC, but high compliance costs have been a concern industry-wide

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A shop advertisement for learning about cryptocurrency in Tsim Sha Tsui on July 7, 2023. Photo: SCMP / Xiaomei Chen
Matt Haldane

The Binance-affiliated cryptocurrency exchange HKVAEX is shutting down its operations in Hong Kong after withdrawing its application for a licence in the city, ending a bid that lasted just three months.

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In the company’s official group chat on the messaging platform Telegram, HKVAEX head of operations Walton Chan announced the closure and said users should withdraw their assets by April 30. The website will shut down on May 1, the company said its official announcement, and trading services will end on April 5. Deposits and new user registrations have already been suspended.

The exchange is winding down operations less than two months after former CEO Stanley Fung left the company. Fung said he is “not privy to the details surrounding their recent decision”. He did not say why he decided to leave the company.

HKVAEX did not respond to requests for comment.

The closure comes just over a year since the company launched its virtual asset trading platform (VATP) in February 2023, securing its position as a pre-existing service provider so that it would have a one-year window to apply for a licence after a new regulation from the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) took effect in June. The exchange submitted its application in January, well ahead of the February 29 deadline, but the SFC’s website shows that it was withdrawn on March 28.
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