Hong Kong plays up collaboration with South Korea in crypto and stablecoin regulation

Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary, Paul Chan Mo-po, was on a three-day visit to Seoul, South Korea, where he worked on promoting the special administrative region’s (SAR) latest developments and opportunities to the local financial, trade, business, and innovation sectors. 

The visit is part of Hong Kong’s recent attempt to position itself as a hub for financial innovation, particularly in digital assets and stablecoin regulation, with South Korea as a key partner.

Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary, Paul Chan Mo-po on a three-day visit to Seoul, South Korea. Source: Hong Kong Government

Financial Secretary extends diplomatic arm to regional partners

In a letter penned by the financial secretary, Paul Chan Mo-po, detailing his visit, the executive mentioned that South Korean financial stakeholders and regulators have expressed strong interest in how far Hong Kong has come with respect to digital assets, particularly the upcoming stablecoin regulation.

Chan Mo-po highlighted how, due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic and tension-rife geopolitics, there have been fewer diplomatic visits to Hong Kong, which has created a gap in their understanding of the SAR’s situation.

Hong Kong’s financial market and the booming IPO fundraising activities have once again attracted the attention of the Korean financial community. This has translated into increased dealings with Korean-licensed institutions in the city, recording securities transactions exceeding HKD 1.5 trillion ($191 billion) in the first five months of 2025, 2.8 times more than the previous year.

The secretary also mentioned how Hong Kong’s financial product innovation has attracted funds from South Korea to its stock market.

Another topic that came up during the visit was a “leveraged inverse product” recently listed in Hong Kong and anchored to a large Korean-listed technology company. The product has been described as the first of its kind anchored to this company, and restricts the buying and selling of related derivatives by Korean investors to Hong Kong alone, showcasing the city’s product innovation capabilities.

There was also talk of Hong Kong’s role as a “super connector” with the financial secretary emphasizing how important it is to promote collaboration, particularly in financial market connectivity.

“This trip made us feel more deeply the necessity of smooth communication and mutual understanding, which is the basis for building mutual trust and the starting point for promoting cooperation,” the secretary wrote.

Hong Kong’s commitment to “One Country, Two Systems,” its linked exchange rate system, free capital flows, and common law judicial system were highlighted as key advantages that appealed to South Korean stakeholders.

In the future, the Chinese special administrative region plans to continue promoting multi-level interactions with different economies in the Asian region.

Hong Kong to facilitate more use cases for stablecoins

Hong Kong has expressed a desire to facilitate more use cases for stablecoins and other tokenized financial products as part of the city’s effort to create a trusted and sustainable digital-asset market that can solve real-world economic problems.

Financial Secretary, Paul Chan Mo-po on a three-day visit to Seoul, South Korea. Source: Hong Kong Government

In the past three years, eleven cryptocurrency exchanges have been licensed by the Securities and Futures Commission ( SFC ) to operate in Hong Kong, and more initiatives are in the works, according to the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, Christopher Hui.

“Finance serves the purpose of easing the smooth operation of the real economy, the value chain, the movement of goods and services, and the transfer of assets and products,” Hui said last week. “I would try to cast our sights even further: it is about Hong Kong [as] a value creator [and] a solution provider for some real economic issues and challenges in the region and across the world.”

Operating on the principle that similar rules should apply to similar risks, his bureau has put together regulations for four “blocks” of digital assets, including exchanges, stablecoin issuers, dealing service providers, and custodians.

Hui also said there are plans to conduct a systematic review of Hong Kong’s legislation to evaluate its support for smart contracts, as the blockchain feature underpins various financial innovations.

He said the main goal is to find ways to boost benefits, particularly in less liquid asset trading and higher access thresholds that require appropriate legal provisions and support.

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