Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has announced the successful completion of its internal first-phase trial and is preparing for the second phase of the e-HKD pilot program. The e-HKD pilot program was launched by HKMA in November 2022 to evaluate the commercial feasibility of its internal CBDC as part of its "Fintech 2025" strategy. The first phase was dedicated to researching six areas of electronic HKD, including comprehensive payments, programmable payments, offline payments, tokenized deposits, Web3 transaction settlement, and tokenized asset settlement.

Bank of China Asia, Bank of China Hong Kong, HSBC, and Hang Seng Bank will continue to support the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's digital currency plan. Bank of China Asia has completed the real-life test of the "Programmable Payment - Prepaid Service" use case; Bank of China Hong Kong stated that the digital currency-related verification results have been submitted to the Monetary Authority and will further optimize the existing plan based on feedback from consumers and merchants, and explore the application value of simulating digital currency in more scenarios according to the research report published by the Monetary Authority; HSBC Bank stated that it looks forward to close cooperation with the Monetary Authority, and is ready to conduct more experiments, explore various innovative programmable solutions and application scenarios, and invite more participants. Hang Seng Bank confirmed that it will continue to support the Monetary Authority's digital currency phase two plan with partners such as Cyberport and Hong Kong University, and has successfully launched a simulated digital currency wallet and programmable token, and simulated the programmability of digital currency through a one-stop wallet. (Yahoo News)

The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of Hong Kong, Christopher Hui Ching-yu, stated that the JPEX incident reflects appropriate and robust regulation, which is crucial for the healthy development of the market. The authorities plan to revise the laws governing the operation of virtual asset over-the-counter (OTC) exchanges and formulate relevant regulatory arrangements, which will be subject to public consultation at a later stage.

On October 30th, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority released a report on the first phase of the CBDC pilot. The report pointed out that retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) can add value to the payment ecosystem and achieve new economic transactions, but further investigation and evaluation are needed to determine large-scale and real-life applications. <br>

On October 30th, it was reported that Hong Kong virtual bank and online lending platform WeLab received $260 million in asset financing from Citigroup. Sources say that Citigroup was the only senior underwriter for the transaction, but they remain anonymous due to the deal not being public. Currently, both Citigroup's representative in Hong Kong and WeLab refuse to comment. This financing was first reported in November of last year, when WeLab's valuation was estimated to be around $2 billion. Note: WeLab has already settled in Hong Kong Cyberport and is also a founding member of the Hong Kong Web3.0 Association.

After the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Carrie Lam, released the "Policy Address 2023", the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute, Yeung Ching-hay, stated that they will fully support the government in accelerating the construction of a digital government, driving development with data, and promoting the construction of an international innovation and technology center in Hong Kong. They will also conduct in-depth research and development on technologies such as artificial intelligence, data analysis, and blockchain, as well as promote cross-border data flow to support the development of Hong Kong's smart city. The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute, Nicholas Yang, previously revealed that the institute will soon establish a Shenzhen headquarters in the Hong Kong Science Park Shenzhen Branch to assist technology enterprises in Hong Kong and the Mainland in unleashing their potential.

Hong Kong Wen Wei Po said that the computer systems of Cyberport and the Consumer Council in Hong Kong were hacked, and a large amount of confidential information was stolen and held for ransom. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg, and some corporate institutions have also fallen prey. Two school principals and small and medium-sized real estate brokers who became hackers confessed that the network vulnerabilities they exploited should serve as a warning to the public: the security systems were not updated for years and the employees had weak network security awareness, which led to the opening of links with viruses. Some experts have said that hackers are indiscriminately invading the networks of various enterprises and institutions, and many universities, primary and secondary schools, chain real estate companies, airlines, and even public institutions in Hong Kong have fallen victim. It is terrifying that even if the ransom is paid, the hackers will still publicly disclose and sell the confidential information. Therefore, companies must raise their security awareness. Hackers launch indiscriminate attacks, and seemingly unimportant middle schools that don't store too much confidential information have also become targets. A certain middle school in Kowloon was "plundered" by hackers early last year, and multiple important documents were stolen.

Financial Secretary of Hong Kong announced the launch of a special student fintech internship program in the 2023-2024 fiscal budget. This program will provide over 150 internship positions in different fintech sectors in Hong Kong and mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area (Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Zhuhai), including virtual banks, virtual insurance companies, regulatory and compliance technology, wealth management technology, credit technology, and payment technology. More than 30 companies are participating in this program.

Hong Kong-listed company Future Data Group Limited announced the signing of a strategic partnership memorandum with Conflux Network. Zhongfu Numerical Integration Technology Co., Ltd. will launch a comprehensive blockchain platform "FutureChain" based on Conflux Network's scalable technology. FutureChain aims to provide users with services such as NFT issuance, security protection, and cross-chain transfer protocol, helping artists, musicians, performers, creators, and enterprises create, issue, and track NFT works. Game developers can also use FutureChain to issue in-game digital items.

BEA's Director of Information Technology and Head of Financial Technology Development, Leung Siu Yan, will focus on generative AI and Web 3.0 blockchain technology. BEA has already partnered with FORMS HK to pave the way for future business development using FORMS HK's "FINNOSafe Wallet" and "FINNOSafe Tokenized Asset Custody Service". Currently, the BEA team has created a functional token called Kudos on the blockchain, which is being internally tested as part of an employee reward program. Leung Siu Yan also revealed that BEA launched an innovation platform called "BEAST" last year, which has 111 proof of concept (PoC) schemes, of which 30 have been implemented.