Hong Kong Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau: Does not plan to provide transitional arrangements for existing virtual asset trading service providers

On June 2nd, according to a press release from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Hong Kong Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau Acting Secretary, Mr. Joseph Chan, stated in his speech at the Legislative Council regarding the proposed regulatory regime for virtual asset service providers that to avoid regulatory ambiguity, there will be no transitional arrangements for existing virtual asset trading service providers. All parties currently engaged in or intending to engage in virtual asset business are advised to contact the regulators as soon as possible to commence the pre-licensing application process. Mr. Chan added that the applications of the six existing virtual asset trading platforms are still under review. Unless exempted, any entity engaged in virtual asset trading, custody, advisory, or management services must be licensed. The proposed regulatory regime includes penalties consistent with existing penalty frameworks.