Hong Kong is planning to switch to a friendlier approach towards CRYPTOCURRENCIES starting next year, according to a Bloomberg report, while neighboring Singapore plans to impose new restrictions on consumers.

People familiar with the matter, who asked to remain anonymous, told Bloomberg that the information is not yet public. Still, Hong Kong has a planned compulsory licensing program for crypto platforms due to be implemented in March next year, which will allow retail trading.

They added that further details and the schedule of the program have not yet been decided, as a public consultation must be held first.

Hong Kong does not plan to support specific currencies like Bitcoin or Ether. However, regulators plan to allow the listing of larger tokens and even legalize cryptocurrency trading for retail customers, according to Bloomberg.

This move indicates a positive regulatory move for cryptocurrencies, which contrasts with the city’s skeptical stance in recent years.

The city plans to reveal more about the details of the recently declared goal of creating a top crypto hub next week during the annual Fintech Week conference, which begins Monday.

Hong Kong is taking a more crypto-friendly approach as the city looks to reclaim its credentials as a major financial hub after a recent year of political instability and the COVID-19 pandemic that caused talent to migrate to the world. Exterior.

People familiar with the matter added that crypto regulators would likely require criteria for listing tokens on retail exchanges, such as a company’s market value, liquidity and membership in third party crypto indices.

As other economies begin to open up to crypto, Singapore has said it is unwilling to change its regulations. Instead, it is tightening restrictions on retail cryptocurrency trading.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Wednesday unveiled a proposal to restrict retail participation in digital assets. After this, small investors will be prohibited from financing coin purchases through loans.

Singapore’s central bank chief Ravi Menon told Bloomberg that the city-state would not stand in the way of other financial centers seeking to push away retail cryptocurrency trading with more relaxed rules.

“We don’t set out to compete with other jurisdictions, especially on regulation,” said Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. “We have to do what is right for us, what is necessary to contain the risks. And the risks mainly hurt retail investors.”

Singapore’s central bank echoed similar sentiments to MAS by calling on companies to stop using tokens deposited by retail investors to lend or stake to generate returns. However, the restrictions proposed by the two regulators will not apply to high net worth investors.

These moves are being taken in Singapore to ensure positive growth of the crypto industry with security measures that will provide security to investors.

According to the Bloomberg report, Menon said that Singapore still wants to be a crypto hub, but to promote areas of digital assets with “use cases” and tokenization, the process of using blockchain technology to securitize various assets.

“We accept that cryptocurrencies have a place in the larger digital ecosystem because it is the native blockchain tokens that drive much of this activity,” he said. “They need to have an expression in the formal financial sector.”

Meanwhile, other economies in Asia, such as neighboring Japan, have already started to take a positive stance towards cryptocurrencies. Japan has already begun to open up its economy to cryptocurrencies by making it easier for companies to list tokens, in contrast to its previous conservative stance that was partially to blame for driving startups away from cryptocurrencies.

In early October, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that the government will take an active role in promoting Web3 services.

Kishida said that Web3-related growth, including metaverse and NFT-related developments, is now part of the country’s growth strategy. He added that the government is interested in creating a society where new services can be easily created.

On October 3, the Prime Minister delivered a speech before the National Diet of Japan (Japan’s bicameral parliament) where he said that the government’s investment in the country’s digital transformation already includes the issuance of NFTs to local authorities using technology. technology to solve challenges in their respective jurisdictions.

While in August, the Japanese government proposed a business-friendly crypto tax that would come into force in 2023. The prime minister’s plan to revamp the economy has spurring the growth of Web3 companies as a key agenda.

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