According to reports from Finance News, Invesco Hong Kong has signed a memorandum of understanding with Huobi Financial to provide innovative investment strategies that combine virtual assets and traditional investment tools for retail and institutional investors. At the same time, these two Hong Kong enterprises will jointly explore the launch of a Bitcoin spot ETF in the Hong Kong market.

Wu Jiezhuang, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a member of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, expressed his hope for the budget proposal's principles of zero taxation, less fees, increased vitality, and opposition to different tax proposals suggested by the public, including the collection of value-added tax on assets, departure tax, and virtual asset stamp duty, during a meeting with Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Financial Secretary Chen Maobo and Deputy Secretary Huang Weilun this morning. He believes that it is necessary to enhance the development momentum of various industries, break down barriers, and vigorously develop the Web3 industry.

US Bitcoin spot ETF was approved nearly a week ago. Yahoo Finance data compiled by TheBlock shows that on January 17th, the cumulative trading volume of 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs exceeded $11.1 billion on the fourth trading day. Meanwhile, Hong Kong, which is determined to become the center of global virtual assets and Web3 and has repeatedly released positive signals for Bitcoin spot ETFs, has also added some expectations to the market. Some institutions told reporters that more than ten fund companies are actively preparing to launch spot ETFs in Hong Kong, of which seven or eight have entered the actual promotion stage and will work with partners to strive to promote the landing of Hong Kong spot ETFs as soon as possible in the coming months. <br>

Samsung Asset Management has stated that it will not rule out the possibility of exploring the launch of spot ETFs. Southern Dongying Asset Management has not responded to requests for comment. Serra Wei, CEO of digital asset custody company Aegis Custody, said the company is in talks with four asset management companies about listing spot encrypted products in Hong Kong. Compared with the low management fees of many new US spot Bitcoin ETFs, Hong Kong's regulatory requirements may result in higher fees for issuers. The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission stated that it will not make any comments other than the guidelines issued in December. If the history of traditional ETFs is any indication, the approval process for such products may take weeks to months.

Hong Kong Stock Analysts Association has proposed nine suggestions for the Hong Kong "2024-2025 Budget", including: consolidating Hong Kong's position as an international financial center; developing family offices and a "new capital investor immigration plan"; adjusting the composition of foreign exchange fund investments to support the stock market; assisting China in developing a long-term bond market; broadening the tax base based on the principle of "user pays"; building Hong Kong into an international virtual asset management center; accelerating the development of spot Bitcoin ETFs; speeding up the launch of stablecoins; and proactively developing the "silver economy".

After BC Technology announced its restructuring, Hong Kong media revealed that the company's original major shareholder, East Harvest, had diluted its holdings to 29.94% after the allotment was completed. BC Technology stated that East Harvest will undergo a share restructuring. Originally jointly owned by Gao Zhenshun, Lo Ken Bon, Madden Hugh Douglas, Chapman David James, and Cheng Wan Gi, after the restructuring, East Harvest will transfer some of its BC Technology shares held in hand to the respective beneficial owners. After the restructuring, Gao Zhenshun will hold East Harvest wholly and hold approximately 10.67% of BC Technology shares. Analysis believes that this move is to facilitate the three resigned executive directors to sell their stocks and exit in the future.

As 13 Bitcoin spot ETFs are waiting for approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Livio Weng, Chief Operating Officer of HashKey Group, revealed in an interview that about ten fund companies are currently preparing to launch virtual asset spot ETFs in Hong Kong, and seven or eight of them are already in the actual promotion stage.

At the end of December Hong Kong launched a consultation on legislative proposals related to stablecoin issuers. The consultation is jointly run by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) which will be the stablecoin regulator and the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB). It runs until the end of February. Additionally, the HKMA plans to launch a regulatory sandbox for the same purpose.

Today's A17 edition of the Ta Kung Pao pointed out that the Hong Kong SAR government strongly supports the development of virtual assets, green finance and other directions, while providing strong support for family offices. Since last year, the SAR government has gradually relaxed its investment policy on cryptocurrencies, and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has become the first exchange in Asia to provide cryptocurrency ETF products, with a current scale of 30 billion yuan. At the same time, the SAR government has led the establishment of the Web 3.0 Association and issued virtual asset management licenses to promote the normalization of this business and build the Web 3.0 ecosystem. Currently, some financial institutions have obtained virtual asset management licenses. The Hong Kong financial license is subdivided into 12 categories, and the improvement of financial licenses will promote the development of the financial market. The issuance of virtual asset licenses may lead to the launch of derivative No. 11 licenses in Hong Kong by 2025.

On page A17 of the Ta Kung Pao on December 28th, an article entitled "Preparing for the Introduction of the Digital Hong Kong Dollar with Three Tracks" pointed out that Hong Kong will use a "three-track" approach to prepare for the possible introduction of the digital Hong Kong dollar in the future. The first track aims to lay the technical and legal foundation for the future introduction of the "digital Hong Kong dollar". The second track runs parallel to the first track, conducting in-depth research on use cases and related execution and design issues of the "digital Hong Kong dollar". The third track is related to when the digital Hong Kong dollar will be officially launched, at which time a comprehensive deployment and timetable will be established.