Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission Intermediaries Department Executive Director Ye Zhiheng: The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission's three major initiatives to promote digital asset regulation in the next 12 months

ChainCatcher on-site report, Ye Zhiheng, Executive Director of the Intermediaries Institutions Department of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, delivered a keynote speech titled “ASPIRe in Action Hong Kong’s Digital Asset Journey” at the 2026 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival. He reviewed the six major milestones since the SFC rolled out the ASPIRe roadmap last year, including allowing licensed platforms to provide staking services, conducting a joint consultation on the regime for virtual asset dealing and custody, opening up the framework for perpetual contracts and margin finance, and launching plans to strengthen market defenses with technology.

He disclosed that the draft legislation for the four systems—virtual asset dealing, custody, management, and advisory—has reached 260 pages, and the draft was received last week. Over the next 12 months, the work will be divided into three major clusters: first, driving innovation through regulation by advancing legislative work and consultations on regulatory guidance; second, driving innovation through practice by gradually allowing tokenized authorized funds to trade on licensed platforms; third, driving innovation through interaction by advancing automated reporting, signing international bilateral memorandums, and a framework to combat financial crime. He emphasized that Hong Kong is “moving steadily forward—fast because of stability.”