HashKey Group has obtained a Bermuda license and will launch the HashKey Global trading platform today

HashKey Group Chief Operating Officer Weng Xiaoqi said in an interview that it has obtained Bermuda's "Full License for Digital Asset Investor Protection System" and will launch the HashKey Global trading platform today. In the first phase, it can provide more than 20 currencies to qualified retail investors, and it is expected to launch futures, pledge and other products within a quarter. He mentioned that he hopes that the data and experience of operating these products in the future will help promote the approval process of the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission and promote the development of Hong Kong's regulatory framework. Weng Xiaoqi said that the Hong Kong platform HashKey Exchange currently has about 170,000 customers, and it is estimated that the number of potential customers who are interested but do not meet the regulations is 4 times that of existing customers. This potential cannot be released through Hong Kong business, so the HashKey Gloabl platform was established, and stablecoins such as USDT and USDC can be directly traded. He explained that the two platforms have different positioning. HashKey Exchange, which has obtained a Hong Kong license, focuses on Hong Kong and surrounding markets, as well as institutional clients; HashKey Global serves retail investors who cannot enter the Hong Kong market, but does not include mainland China, Hong Kong, the United States, and countries that have clearly stated that they do not allow the operation of virtual asset platforms. It is expected that the main source of customers will be overseas Chinese and users in Southeast Asian countries. Looking to the future, Weng Xiaoqi bluntly stated that HashKey will continue to conduct exchange business in a licensed manner, and pointed out that two other licenses are under negotiation. In the next five years, it will be based in Hong Kong, focusing on the Asia-Pacific region, and hopes to obtain licenses in different regions around the world, summarize the operating experience of various regions to form an interactive relationship. It will be a trend for virtual asset platforms to enter the market by obtaining licenses in the next 10 years. "It is no longer the model of the past that does not care about the law and only focuses on increasing AUM (asset management scale), because at a certain stage it will be liquidated, or even at a huge cost." The "first license, then business" model is a sustainable business. (Hong Kong Economic Journal)