- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as Asian markets rally
- Nearly 90, but opera legend Kabaivanska is still calling tune
- With inflation down, ECB eyes faster tempo of rate cuts
- Is life possible on a Jupiter moon? NASA goes to investigate
- Ex-Stasi officer faces verdict over 1974 Berlin border killing
- Role of government, poverty research tipped for economics Nobel
- In milestone, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- In a first, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- Bangladeshi Hindus shrug off attack worries to celebrate festival
- Ubisoft fears assassin's hit over falling sales
- Vietnam, China hold talks on calming South China Sea tensions
- SpaceX will try to 'catch' giant Starship rocket shortly before landing
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgery: reports
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgey: reports
- 'Little Gregory' murder haunts France 40 years on
- Tariffs, tax cuts, energy: What is in Trump's economic plan?
- Amazon wants to be everything to everyone
- Jewish school in Canada hit by gunfire for second time
- With medical report Harris seeks to play health card against Trump
- China-EU EV tariff talks in Brussels end with 'major differences': Beijing
- Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary
- Harris to release medical report confirming fitness for presidency: campaign
- Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say
- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Small Quebec company dominates one part of NHL hockey: jerseys
- Boeing to cut 10% of workforce as it sees big Q3 loss
- Want to film in Paris? No sexism allowed
- US, European markets rise as investors weigh rates, earnings
- In Colombia, children trade plastic waste for school supplies
- JPMorgan Chase profits top estimates, bank sees 'resilient' US economy
- Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit
- 'Party atmosphere': Skygazers treated to another aurora show
- Kyrgyzstan opens rare probe into glacier destruction
- European Mediterranean states discuss Middle East, migration
- Thunberg leads pro-Palestinian, climate protest in Milan
- Stock markets diverge before China weekend briefing
- EU questions shopping app Temu over illegal products risk
- Han Kang's books sell out in South Korea after Nobel win
- Shanghai markets sink ahead of briefing on mixed day for Asia
- Investors, analysts eye bigger China stimulus at Saturday briefing
- Musk unveils robotaxi, pledges it 'before 2027'
- At least 11 dead in Florida but Hurricane Milton not as bad as feared
- Asian markets mixed after Wall St drop, Shanghai dips before briefing
- Automaker Stellantis says CEO will retire in 2026
- Musk's promised robotaxi unveil delayed
- On US coast, wind power foes embrace 'Save the Whales' argument
- At least 10 dead in Florida after Hurricane Milton spawns tornadoes
- Internet Archive reels from 'catastrophic' cyberattack, data breach
- Wall Street stocks retreat from records on US inflation data
- Israel strikes central Beirut, killing 22
Hong Kong launches retail-friendly rules for crypto exchanges
Hong Kong opened its arms to the virtual asset world on Thursday, launching new retail-friendly rules for the city's crypto exchanges.
The Chinese finance hub is pivoting to embrace crypto despite high-profile failures in recent months, including the meltdown of trading platform FTX, which wiped out more than $1.5 trillion in the market.
China has had a strict crypto ban since 2021, but in Hong Kong -- which operates on a separate legal framework -- trading has been allowed though unregulated, meaning individual investors use unlicensed platforms.
The regulatory regime launched Thursday means that after a one-year transition period, all crypto exchanges in Hong Kong must be licensed, and will be able to take on retail clients.
"(The sector) fundamentally is going to stay despite all the risks... These activities have to be allowed in a regulated way," the city's financial services and treasury chief Christopher Hui told AFP.
The new rules have an emphasis on investor protection measures, like requiring exchanges to vet their clients and limit their risk exposure, as well as restricting trade to "large-cap" tokens such as bitcoin.
Crypto exchange OKX -- founded in China but now based in Seychelles -- told AFP it was "committed to the Hong Kong market" and will apply for a licence.
"Hong Kong is making concrete strides and is building confidence among industry players," said Lennix Lai, OKX's global chief commercial officer.
Regulators said they hope to move quickly to issue the first licences.
But a prominent activist investor in Hong Kong said Thursday the new policy lends credibility to a risky sector and endorses speculation.
"Hong Kong has a history of jumping onto financial bandwagons just as the wheels are falling off," David Webb, a former investment banker, told AFP.
The government may say the new crypto regime is similar to that of traditional finance, but Webb said the "analogy breaks down" as most crypto -- unlike stocks or futures on companies and commodities -- have no intrinsic value.
"There's no reason why (the government) should encourage people to bet on someone else paying more for something that has no fundamental value," Webb said.
Last year, the city said HK$1.7 billion ($217 million) was lost to crypto-related scams, which police attributed to criminals taking advantage of the public's lack of sector knowledge.
The new rules ask exchanges to conduct a "holistic assessment" of a client's understanding of digital currencies before taking them on, but give no specifics.
One company licensed under Hong Kong's previous regime tells its prospective clients to take a screenshot showing they have finished watching 13 instructional videos in a free online course.
But they "DO NOT need to complete any programme assignments or take any tests", it wrote on its website.
L.K.Baumgartner--CPN