Hong Kong crypto exchange license applications cost less than expected. All unlicensed crypto exchanges have been kicked out of Hong Kong.
Licenses for cryptocurrency exchanges in Hong Kong now cost applicants several million dollars, a significant decrease from the $25 million charged a year ago.
According to Livio Wang, chief operating officer of HashKey Group, the crypto exchange licenses cost “tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars [several million in USD] at the very least, if not tens of millions of dollars.” Wang stated this in an interview with the Financial Times.
“The expenses associated with the preparation of license review materials differ from those of the operation stage,” he elaborated. Moreover, he declared:
“For HashKey, which is already in operation, our investment in the entire exchange sector is indeed tens of millions of dollars, but it is not expected to be so much for a platform that is still in the licensing stage.”
As of June 1, all unlicensed cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the East Asian city of Hong Kong have been expelled by regulators, threatening criminal prosecution for noncompliance. Over eleven companies possess the “deemed to be licensed” designation.
As of the previous year, HashKey and OSL are the only two wholly licensed exchanges.
Wang disclosed in the interview that HashKey Exchange has facilitated a total of $440 billion in transactions and manages $500 million in user assets since its inception.
The blockchain executive stated, “Our number of activated customers this week surpassed last week by 267 percent, and the number of newly activated customers more than tripled.”
In April, HashKey, imitating Coinbase, established a global exchange headquartered in Bermuda for international consumers. HashKey Global, in contrast to its Hong Kong-based counterpart that obtained a license to operate in the region first, does not provide services to China, the United States, Hong Kong, or numerous other areas.
The implementation of Hong Kong‘s exchange licensing regime was impeded in the previous year when JPEX, an unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange, defrauded investors of $166 million before its collapse in September 2023, despite established regulations.