Source: Techub News columnist Wu Jiezhuang

The Hong Kong government's earlier release of the "Policy Statement on the Development of Virtual Assets in Hong Kong" and the implementation of the trading platform licensing system have laid a solid foundation for the development of the industry. The legislative work of the "Stablecoin Bill" being promoted today aims to further regulate the issuers of legal currency stablecoins. While protecting the rights and interests of users, it will also help the internationalization of the RMB and the development of Hong Kong's offshore financial business.

It is understood that the Bill Committee has held six meetings on the draft bill. The government has fully listened to the opinions of the committee members and the industry and made corresponding amendments to the bill. During the discussion, the industry made a number of suggestions on the content of the bill, especially in specifying the providers and sales targets of stablecoins. Some people believe that the scope of approved providers should be expanded to store value payment facility licensees, and some people point out that allowing store value payment facility licensees to sell legal currency stablecoins will help promote their widespread use.

Today, Councillor Wu Jiezhuang, as a member of the bill committee, also shared his views on the process of promoting the passage of the stablecoin bill:

1. From the perspective of national development

Hong Kong's promotion of stablecoins will help high-quality global development. Hong Kong has the unique advantage of "one country, two systems", and the development of virtual assets can also highlight the benefits of Hong Kong's unique system. Various parts of the world have begun to actively promote discussions and legislation related to stablecoins, and related developments will obviously help the international development of local currencies.

The stablecoins in the Bill are based on fiat currency assets. I believe that the issuers of different applications will explore and consider using various currencies as assets. In addition to Hong Kong dollars or US dollars, I believe that assets including offshore RMB as the underlying assets can also be explored and considered. Promoting this matter in a compliant structure is believed to be conducive to the national strategy of RMB internationalization. As an international financial center, Hong Kong's improvement of stablecoin regulation will also help promote the development of Hong Kong's offshore RMB business hub, and helping to promote the internationalization of RMB can also bring huge business opportunities for itself.

2. From the perspective of Hong Kong development

The passage of legislation will further consolidate the status of an international financial center and actively accelerate the promotion of becoming an international center for Web3. Hong Kong has good inherent advantages in developing virtual assets and stablecoins, including a sound legal basis, free capital flow, an international environment and world-class talents. In addition, Hong Kong is backed by the motherland, the world's second largest economy. In the future, with the gradual increase in the application and use of stablecoins, it is believed that it will help Hong Kong's economy to develop rapidly again.

Hong Kong has been actively developing Web3 in recent years and has achieved some results. However, due to insufficient liquidity and overly strict regulation, it is still in its infancy. To take a leading position in the world, we must speed up, seize the initiative, and have the courage to take the lead.

3. Expectations for the future

I hope that the SAR government will strengthen communication with the industry and jointly promote the application scenarios and ecosystem of stablecoins. I think legislation is just the most basic step and a beginning. The focus is on future application coverage, diversification of application scenarios, international recognition and even as a reserve, and the transaction volume of stablecoins used globally. It can gradually promote the use of stablecoins in the combination of the real economy and the digital economy, which will help highlight the advantages of Hong Kong's compliant stablecoins.

Hong Kong has always had a huge total merchandise trade volume. For example, Hong Kong's global merchandise trade volume reached HK$9,464.5 billion in 2024. The characteristics of stablecoins solve the pain points of the traditional financial system from the perspective of financial innovation, and can accelerate the completion of trade transfers and transactions. The government and the industry should work together to promote the implementation of related industries and application scenarios, and cooperate with the application of compliance technology (reg-tech) to ensure stable, safe, and gradual widespread use.

Furthermore, I also expect the SAR government to further improve the market attributes of the product in stages according to the actual needs and opinions of the market and the industry after introducing relevant laws. Many industry insiders around the world have been suggesting that in order to increase the attractiveness and two-way circulation of stablecoins and make them more valuable in the market, including on-chain interest. The issuer of stablecoins will invest the relevant legal currency reserve assets in extremely low-risk projects, including sovereign bonds. These interests obtained through investment can be considered to be delivered directly to stablecoin holders in the future to increase the income of stablecoin holders. In addition to being of great benefit to the future applicability of stablecoins, global users are motivated to use Hong Kong's compliant stablecoins. Don't get up early and catch the late market.

In addition, I hope that the government will further improve the regulatory measures for virtual asset over-the-counter trading services and the licensing system for virtual asset custody service providers, and launch the second round of consultation and related legislative procedures as soon as possible to continuously optimize Hong Kong’s virtual asset regulatory framework, increase efforts to protect the interests of investors, and promote the sustainable development of Hong Kong’s virtual asset ecosystem.

At the same time, the government and the industry must also pay attention to the risks involved, especially since there have been many fraud cases involving virtual assets in Hong Kong in the past, with losses amounting to tens of billions of dollars. In addition to strengthening supervision and publicity and education, the government hopes that the mass media can also do more publicity to let the public know more about virtual assets, understand the investment risks, and carefully choose licensed trading platforms.

I believe that if the government authorities continue to improve the legal framework, appropriately remove barriers to the industry, and promote the development of Web3 and the virtual asset industry under controllable risks, it will definitely help consolidate Hong Kong's position as an international financial center and take a big step forward in developing into an international innovation and technology center.