Welcome to Techub News’ “Hong Kong Web3 Weekly Events”. In this weekly report, we will sort out the major events and developments in the Hong Kong Web3 field from May 12 to May 18, as well as the latest data insights and detailed event previews, to help you quickly and comprehensively understand the progress of the Hong Kong Web3 field last week.
Hot News
According to Economic Times, Tiger Brokers (Hong Kong) has launched a cryptocurrency deposit and withdrawal service that supports virtual currency deposits, transactions and withdrawals. The mainstream virtual currencies supported include Bitcoin, Ethereum and other mainstream cryptocurrencies. The platform is also a virtual asset trading service app licensed by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission.
According to the Financial Times, Hong Kong crypto investment company Animoca Brands is planning to go public in New York. Animoca was previously valued at nearly $6 billion, and its investment portfolio includes companies such as OpenSea, Kraken and Consensys. Animoca said it is considering various equity structures and the listing announcement "may be released soon."
According to the 13F filing submitted by Hong Kong investment company Avenir Group to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as of March 31, the company held approximately $857 million worth of Bitcoin ETFs. This included 14,766,760 shares of BlackRock Bitcoin Spot ETF IBIT and 58,627 shares of Fidelity Bitcoin Spot ETF FBTC.
The Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau (CSTCB) of the Hong Kong Police Force has collaborated with the University of Hong Kong to develop a virtual asset analysis tool, CryptoTrace, to provide advanced intelligence and investigative support to crime investigation units.
Top Win International Limited (NASDAQ: TOPW), a Hong Kong-based luxury watch company listed on the US stock market, announced its strategic expansion into the digital asset sector and changed its name to AsiaStrategy after obtaining the necessary approvals. It will further adopt a robust digital asset funding strategy to take advantage of the rapidly developing Web3 ecosystem......
According to Hong Kong Commercial Daily, the Hong Kong police launched a codenamed night raid to destroy a border money laundering criminal group active in the Mainland and Hong Kong. The group involved recruited mainlanders to open bank accounts in Hong Kong to collect proceeds from fraud cases, and arranged to withdraw money from banks, and then took the cash to virtual asset exchange shops to exchange for cryptocurrencies to launder money; 12 men and women were arrested in the operation, involving the laundering of HK$118 million in criminal proceeds...
Industry Observation
Xiao Feng's graduation speech to entrepreneurs: Crossing the gap and returning to the starting point
Recently, at the graduation class of Wanwu Creation Camp S4, Dr. Xiao Feng, founder of Wanxiang Blockchain, chairman of HashKey Group, and initiator of Wanwu Island, gave a powerful sharing session - "Blockchain: Starting from the Origin". He talked about new trends such as RWA and PayFi, and also shared his thoughts after face-to-face communication with Vitalik. He did not sell anxiety or pile up technology, but tried to take everyone back to the original meaning of blockchain and talk about whether this industry can still be done and how to do it? This article has some secondary edits that do not change the original meaning. If you are confused about this circle, it is worth reading and collecting repeatedly, and perhaps you will have a new sense of direction.
In the past two years, if you say that the US SEC has a good relationship with the crypto industry, it is basically like saying that Tiger is a Buddhist and loves to eat vegetarian food. Most of the time, the SEC's attitude is either "Don't do it first" or "If you dare to do it, I dare to sue." But now the picture seems to have changed a bit.
On May 12, Paul S. Atkins, Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), gave a highly content-intensive speech at the Crypto Asset Roundtable. At first glance, it was an industry exchange, but in fact it was a systematic reflection on the SEC's crypto regulatory model over the past few years. More importantly, he spent nearly an hour re-explaining the regulatory logic of "on-chain securities."
If I were to summarize the tone of his speech in one sentence, it would be: rules should be clearly written, and people should not be scared by law enforcement.
This is the first time in recent years that the SEC has explicitly proposed to establish a "specialized regulatory framework" for the issuance, custody and trading of crypto assets, and acknowledged that the current rules do not apply to on-chain assets. This is a signal that cannot be ignored for the entire Web3 industry.
As the global asset tokenization wave sweeps across the world, Hong Kong is becoming a key testing ground for on-chain asset layout. Recently, on-chain layout is also experiencing an accelerated evolution: on the one hand, the Hong Kong government has launched multiple measures to promote tokenization experiments, and on the other hand, many Internet and traditional financial companies such as JD Technology, Futu Securities, Ant Digits and Guotai Junan are actively promoting RWA layout.
Many domestic companies holding physical assets have also heard the news and are seeking to put their assets on the chain for tokenized financing. The most common compliance solution is to confirm the ownership of domestic assets on the alliance chain, then set up a main body in Hong Kong to control domestic assets, and then issue tokens for financing. Such companies range from agriculture to new energy to real estate, and the essence of exploring RWA (tokenization of real assets) is still for financing, but Hong Kong's RWA industry is still crossing the river by feeling the stones.
From the early Dupay and OneKey Card, to the Card launched by exchanges Bitget and Bybit, to the encrypted payment card services of Infini, Morph and SafePal, and even Coinbase and MetaMask have entered the market. Since this year, encrypted payment cards (U cards) targeting the PayFi narrative have almost become the standard for Web3 project parties.
The current data availability (DA) layers (Celestia, Avail, EigenDA) will divide the market in different directions for a long time, similar to the ancient "Three Kingdoms", each focusing on different areas of strength.
In the short term, all three DA layers are competing to increase throughput, and the outcome of this performance battle may determine which project will dominate the DA market in the long term.
This article will explore three major DA layer projects: Celestia, Avail, and EigenDA. Although the technology is similar, they are developing in different ways.
At present, RWA is really hot. From the Hong Kong Web3 Carnival in early April to the recent Web3 lawyer circle, everyone is talking about RWA. It is not without reason. After all, RWA is a more reliable and secure way to "issue coins".
A few days ago, Lawyer Mankiw talked with everyone about China's new RWA projects, such as "Mankiw Research | Decoding China's Mainland Characteristics RWA: Practical Characteristics, Risk Analysis and Optimization Path", and also shared with everyone how to play current RWA, such as "Mankiw | In the divided Web3 world, there are at least three types of RWA".
In this article, Attorney Mankiw will talk to you about how RWA works in the United States based on Ondo’s RWA model.
Binance Alpha's points game is pushing "involution" to the extreme at an unprecedented speed. When the points threshold once exceeded the 200-point mark, and the airdrop income dropped sharply to around US$25, the decline in the user input-output ratio triggered widespread community discussion.
In this seemingly winner-takes-all feast, one view is that its huge traffic is "overflowing" to other ecosystems such as Sui and Solana, injecting vitality into them. However, what is the true situation of this spillover effect? What kind of far-reaching impact will this "wool-pulling" carnival ignited by Binance Alpha ultimately have on the industry?
The recent announcement by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) on the provision of staking services by licensed virtual asset trading platforms (VATPs) has introduced a clear regulatory framework for the Hong Kong virtual asset ecosystem, which will have a significant impact. This move marks a significant shift in the SFC's regulatory stance, aiming to provide structural regulations for staking activities while responding to the growing demand for policy clarity from investors and market participants.
Visa and Mastercard are the two major operators of the global payment network. It is no exaggeration to say that they almost dominate the global payment market. It is estimated that the total amount of global payment transactions will reach 20 trillion US dollars by 2024. If card payments can be processed through blockchain networks in the future, this will bring huge development opportunities to the blockchain and stablecoin industries.
Data Insights
Hong Kong Bitcoin & Ethereum Spot ETF Inflow and Outflow
According to SoSoValue data, the net subscription volume of Hong Kong's Bitcoin spot ETF last week was 56.89 coins, with a total holding value of approximately US$436 million, a decrease of approximately US$5 million in holding value; the net subscription volume of Ethereum spot ETF was 2243.67 coins, with a total holding value of approximately US$58.08 million, an increase of approximately US$19.45 million in holding value.
Event News
Join us for an exclusive evening of insights and networking at the Institutional Trading Infrastructure Meetup: Insights from Avelacom, AWS, DolphinDB and LTP on 23 May 18:00 - 21:00 in Hong Kong. This invitation-only event will bring together key decision makers in the trading technology ecosystem to discuss the next generation solutions that will drive tomorrow’s markets.
