Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) is preparing a list of crypto assets that will be open to retail traders, according to a report by Reuters.
The new CEO of SFC, Julia Leung Fung-yee, has said that these whitelisted crypto tokens will be highly liquid and deemed safe enough for non-professional investors to trade.
Leung stated that the SFC will not allow retail investors to trade in all of the thousands of products on virtual asset platforms, but will instead set criteria that would allow retail investors to only trade in major virtual assets.
The SFC will also be liaising with the public on regulations for retail crypto trading and publishing a consultation paper before the end of Q1 2023.
This regulatory push will also include new licensing protocols for crypto exchanges and other virtual asset service providers.
The goal is to protect investors, as the current bear market has led to a massive price decline and Hong Kong investors have lost $50 million to crypto scams as of August 2022.
