At the "Artificial Intelligence New Era: Exploring Financial Big Models" sub-forum of the 2023 Hong Kong Fintech Week, Leung Hon-king, head of finance and fintech at the Investment Promotion Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR government, stated that while various new tracks in the fintech field are developing rapidly, compared to traditional financial assets that require custody, the uncertainty of virtual assets is greater and regulation is more difficult. Leung Hon-king also revealed that the Investment Promotion Bureau hopes to find some of the most advanced software suppliers who can conduct real-time tracking of virtual asset trading data and recommend them to regulators.

Regarding the JPEX incident, Zhu Qiaohua, risk director and lawyer of the blockchain technology group XBE, said that most overseas law enforcement agencies have blockchain blacklists. Once a wallet or funds are involved in a criminal case, the authorities can track and lock the funds in the wallet.

Hong Kong Legislative Council member Wu Jiezhuang held a press conference today (18th) to respond to the suspected fraud incident of the virtual asset trading platform JPEX. He revealed that he has received about 30 requests for help from victims, and the amounts lost by each person are different, with some being six-digit numbers and some being seven-digit numbers. The total amount involved is estimated to be over 100 million Hong Kong dollars.

SEBA Bank's Hong Kong branch has been granted in-principle approval from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission to deal in virtual assets. The license will allow SEBA Hong Kong to offer services such as over-the-counter derivatives, asset management for discretionary accounts in virtual assets, and advising on virtual assets.

According to an official announcement, HashKey Exchange has opened up deposit, withdrawal, and trading services for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) to retail investors. The exchange has also officially opened BTC/USD and ETH/USD trading pairs for retail investors.

The Korean citizen group "Improvement Network for Property Disclosure and Information Disclosure System" recently urged the expansion of the scope of property disclosure for congress members, including the disclosure of spouses' assets, and a comprehensive investigation of the virtual assets of all members.

Web3.0 industry professionals who had previously relocated to Singapore and Dubai are returning to Hong Kong. The Hong Kong government has shown support for the development of Hong Kong as a global hub for virtual assets, helping the industry to solve problems. While the Web3.0 ecosystem in Hong Kong continues to grow, the government also supports the increase in demand for blockchain-related transactions, which even drives up hotel prices.

According to the announcement made by Gyeonggi Province, South Korea today, the revision of the "Behavioral Norms for Gyeonggi Province Public Officials" has been completed. It requires public officials of level 4 or above in Gyeonggi Province to report their holdings of virtual assets such as Bitcoin before September 1st, and if necessary, to verify their relevance to their duties, and take preventive measures based on the information obtained to prevent them from seeking personal gain during their duties.

Chen Yingfeng, Vice Chairman of the Asian Financial Technology Association, stated in a Ming Pao special issue that Web3.0 is a natural tool for ESG, and the two complement each other with mutually beneficial effects.

On August 14th, according to the Ming Pao News website, after Hong Kong's regulatory agency established a regulatory framework for virtual assets, the industry has been actively applying for virtual asset licenses. Legislative Council member Li Wei-hong stated that due to the high demand in the market, the salary of personnel (RO) responsible for the 7th license (ATS, automatic trading system) has been increasing.