Executive Director of the Intermediaries Division at the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, Ye Zhiheng: The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission's three major initiatives to advance digital asset regulation in the next 12 months

ChainCatcher on-site report, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission’s Intermediaries Department Executive Director Ye Chi-hang 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 launched the ASPIRe roadmap last year, including allowing licensed platforms to provide staking services, joint consultations on virtual asset trading and custody systems, opening perpetual contracts and guaranteed financing frameworks, as well as plans to strengthen market defenses through technology.

He revealed that the draft regulations for four systems—virtual asset trading, custody, management, and advisory—have reached 260 pages, and the draft was received last week.
The work in the next 12 months will be divided into three major clusters:
First, promoting innovation through regulation, advancing legislative and regulatory guidance consultations;
Second, promoting innovation through practice, gradually allowing tokenized authorized funds to trade on licensed platforms;
Third, promoting innovation through interaction, advancing automated reporting, signing international bilateral memoranda, and frameworks to combat financial crime.
He emphasized that Hong Kong is “progressing steadily, because stability leads to speed.”