Hong Kong will submit an amendment bill to expand its crypto licensing regime within the year, with the government targeting the end of 2026 for the next stage of the framework, according to Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui. The proposed system would cover four categories of digital asset activity: trading, custody, advisory and asset management.
Hui made the remarks at a policy briefing on Monday. The report said the plan is based on an official government statement and reflects Hong Kong’s move away from regulation centered on a single type of platform toward a broader licensing structure for the digital asset business chain, with the Securities and Futures Commission set to take charge of the unified framework.
Four license categories named in the proposal
The amendment bill would cover digital asset trading platforms, digital asset custody services, digital asset advisory services and digital asset management services.
According to the report, the structure closely mirrors traditional finance. Trading platforms line up with broker licensing, custody maps to banks or custodians, advisory resembles investment advisory, and management tracks fund manager oversight. The direction suggests Hong Kong is folding crypto into an existing regulatory logic instead of building a separate model from scratch.
Trading platforms are already under licensing rules
Hong Kong began licensing virtual asset trading platforms in June 2023. The report said 11 platforms, including HashKey Exchange and OKX HK, have received approval-in-principle or full licenses.
Custody, advisory and asset management, though, have remained outside a dedicated licensing regime. Those services have so far been subject only in part to the Securities and Futures Ordinance and the Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance. The proposed bill would give those areas their own defined licensing requirements.
Timeline stretches from 2023 to 2026
The latest confirmation did not come out of nowhere. The report said Hui had already indicated in January that regulators were planning to submit a crypto asset regulatory draft by the end of 2026. At the same time, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority had started processing license applications from stablecoin issuers.
In April, the HKMA issued the first stablecoin issuer licenses to Anchorpoint Financial and HSBC, the report said. It described that as the first milestone under Hong Kong’s e-money token regime. Both institutions issued Hong Kong dollar-linked stablecoins, identified in the report as HPAY and HSBC’s Hong Kong dollar stablecoin plan.
The October confirmation raises the status of the plan from a draft concept to a stated legislative commitment, according to the report. Once the bill reaches the Legislative Council, it would typically still need at least six to 12 months for review, consultation and revisions before taking effect. On that basis, the four-part licensing regime may not be implemented until as early as mid-2027 to 2028.
Compliance costs could rise for firms in the market
The report framed the industry impact in two parts. One is higher compliance costs. Custodians, asset managers and advisory firms operating in Hong Kong without licenses may have to choose between applying for approval or leaving the market once the new system is in place.
It also cited comments from HashKey’s CEO in 2023 saying that applying for a virtual asset trading platform license costs at least tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars, or about $5 million to $10 million. The report said the threshold for the new license categories is unlikely to come in below that level.
Clearer rules may open the door for institutions
The other side of the change is a more explicit legal route for traditional financial institutions that want to enter digital asset businesses. The report said banks, trust companies and fund managers have had limited participation in crypto largely because the regulatory perimeter has remained unclear.
If the four license categories are established, those firms would be able to apply for the relevant approvals and operate legally in the sector. The report described that approach as Hong Kong using regulation as the basis for development.
RWA named as one possible beneficiary
The report also said real-world assets, or RWA, could be one of the areas that benefit from the amendment. Hong Kong has repeatedly listed RWA and stablecoins as priority directions in its digital asset policy work, and the inclusion of asset management services in the licensing bill was described as matching the legal needs of RWA funds.
With the government again confirming the end-2026 timetable, Hong Kong’s digital asset rules are moving beyond exchange licensing toward a more complete regime that also covers custody, advisory and asset management.