Crypto Frontline

[LONDON, United Kingdom] — The introduction of a proposal regarding a cryptocurrency trading ban as a bill to Hong Kong’s legislative council is looming in the East Asian territory. The Special Administrative Region’s government is reportedly looking into this plan later this year.

We want to inform cryptocurrency traders reading this report that this development in Hong Kong has garnered strong and adverse reactions, specifically from mainstream cryptocurrency organizations. We find it significant that our Hong Kong-based traders pay close attention because it could impact them considerably in the months ahead.

Last November 2020, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau released a consultation paper. The Hong Kong-based office’s official document comprised a strong suggestion to prohibit retail investors from trading cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and so forth. 

Additionally, the proposal would reportedly align Hong Kong’s domestic regulations on Anti-Money Laundering, and counterterrorism financing with the Financial Action Task Force’s recommendations, based on the news posted online by BTC Manager, a United Kingdom-based cryptocurrency information and news website.

With the proposal now being mulled to become a bill, cryptocurrency organizations have expressed their concern. Bryan Cheung had earlier cited that the planned cryptocurrency trading ban would merely drive firms out of Hong Kong. He remarked that the better measures that need to be taken are cryptocurrency education and awareness.

Moreover, Cheung’s Bitcoin Association of Hong Kong stated that any obstacle placed to restrict the buying or selling of Bitcoin has to be well-justified and reasonable. The cryptocurrency organization said that the government has to give a concrete reason why it would ban retail investors from trading cryptocurrencies. Cheung’s group maintained that Hong Kong’s people need to be able to accept and utilize the leading cryptocurrency as a mode of exchange. 

Besides Cheung, Malcolm Wright also expressed his opposition to the Hong Kong government’s proposal. He argued that retail cryptocurrency traders might highly likely turn to unregulated platforms if the bill introduced to the legislative council gets the green light.

The Global Digital Finance’s advisory council’s chairman also pointed out that, for trading activities, retail investors would utilize overseas cryptocurrency exchanges in light of the proposed cryptocurrency trading ban. We find that Cheung and Wright’s perspectives are valid. Wright helms the group representing leading cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinbase, Huobi, OKCoin, and BitMEX.

Since there is no denying that, in recent years, cryptocurrency trading has gained a massive following among the world’s investors, both professional and retail, we believe it is just appropriate that the Hong Kong government rethink its proposal. It should consider the cryptocurrency trading prohibition’s repercussions carefully, especially its effects on the country’s financial future.

We believe that a complete cryptocurrency trading ban, when fully implemented, could place Hong Kong as a laggard in the contemporary financial markets. After all, cryptocurrencies and using them as a mode of exchange have a future, as per Catherine Coley. 

The Binance.US chief executive officer disclosed that Binance.US had witnessed unprecedented trading volumes, especially active Bitcoin trading. Coley relayed that this promising development took place despite the market downturn in the COVID-19 or coronavirus pandemic. 

Coley confirmed the pronounced surge in the number of users and trades lately shared by plenty of cryptocurrency exchanges. We fervently agree that cryptocurrencies and trading them have and are the future. Thus, any action to restrict these futuristic tokens’ usage deserves to get re-evaluated carefully and with a focus on the future impacts, both positive and negative.