With the rapid development of Internet technology, the Internet is undergoing a major upgrade from Web1.0 to Web3.0. In this wave of new Internet technology revolution, whoever can seize the opportunity will become the leader of the future.
In November 2022, the Hong Kong government issued the "Policy Declaration on the Development of Virtual Assets in Hong Kong", demonstrating its determination and ambition to develop Hong Kong into a global digital asset center. Since then, the Hong Kong government has successively introduced a series of policies to support and protect virtual assets and related industries, such as tax incentives, investment support, etc., to encourage capital, enterprises, and talents to devote themselves to the innovation and development of Web 3.0.
Embracing Web 3.0 is a historic opportunity for Hong Kong and a key proposition for maintaining its status as a global financial center. In the context of Hong Kong's vigorous promotion of the development of the virtual asset industry, BSN's special dialogue program "BSN Long Story Short" used four issues to compare the policies of Hong Kong and its main competitor Singapore, new opportunities for enterprises in related fields, and Hong Kong's role in Web3. This paper conducted a detailed and in-depth discussion on the practice and development path of Hong Kong's Web3.0 from the perspectives of the opportunities and main challenges of the 0 era, as well as future policy directions, and looked forward to the future prospects of Hong Kong's Web3.0.
01
Hong Kong and Singapore battle for global digital financial center
In recent years, both Hong Kong and Singapore have been actively striving to become global digital financial centers. Hong Kong announced to the world its determination to become a digital asset center by issuing a policy declaration, while Singapore has always maintained a relatively friendly regulatory attitude toward digital assets. Both places hope to use digital assets to boost the financial industry and maintain their status as a global financial center.
In comparison, there are certain differences in digital asset policies between Hong Kong and Singapore. Hong Kong focuses more on ordinary individual investors, while Singapore focuses more on institutional and commercial applications. This is related to the development history of the financial industries in the two places. Hong Kong's financial industry has always been highly open to ordinary investors, with individuals actively participating in stock and other transactions, while Singapore's financial industry has always been biased towards serving companies and institutions.
However, there is also a consensus between the two places on digital asset policies, that is, they both emphasize that digital assets should benefit and serve the real economy and cannot simply remain at the level of speculation; in addition, both places are vigorously building digital asset infrastructure to create conditions for the development of the digital economy. .
In the context of competition between the two places, the release of the policy declaration has dual meanings: first, it hopes to curb the loss of Hong Kong projects, capital, and talents in the field of digital assets to Singapore in recent years; second, it further encourages digital asset companies to return to Hong Kong.
The "three identical principles" proposed in the declaration are the cornerstone of Hong Kong's digital asset regulation, that is, similar regulatory measures are adopted in the face of similar risks, and differences in technical means do not affect the intensity of regulation. In the future, Hong Kong will still formulate digital asset policies on this basis, taking into account innovative development and risk management.
Hong Kong's degree of openness may vary for different types of digital assets. For relatively simple digital asset types, including stablecoins, security tokens, NFTs, etc., it is expected that Hong Kong will gradually open up circulation to ordinary investors, while for complex products such as derivatives, they may only be available to professional institutional investors.
A question worthy of attention is whether Hong Kong and Singapore will directly establish official digital assets or virtual currency exchanges. Historical experience shows that excessive decentralization of exchanges is detrimental to development, and there may be a trend of consolidation in the long term. However, the establishment of an exchange directly led by the government may not necessarily be feasible in Hong Kong and Singapore, which have a high degree of marketization.
More importantly, a complete digital infrastructure is the key to future development, which is conducive to small and medium-sized enterprises to fully innovate digital assets. Even if no official digital asset exchange is established, Hong Kong and Singapore can become key nodes in the global digital asset network as long as the digital infrastructure is complete.
In addition, Hong Kong may establish a specialized digital asset regulatory department and hire professionals who truly understand blockchain technology to formulate policies, rather than simply relying on traditional financial regulators. This will be more conducive to good communication with digital asset companies and will also make supervision easier. More in line with industry characteristics.
Depending on the asset type, the supervision methods can also be adjusted, but the core of supervision is to promote the development of the digital asset industry in a transparent direction. Risk events that have occurred in history have mostly occurred in centralized exchanges with opaque information. Therefore, whether it is Hong Kong or Singapore, in the future Improved transparency will be a major consideration in formulating regulatory rules.
Both Hong Kong and Singapore have seen the importance of digital assets to the development of the financial industry. Although the two places have different policies, they both have the same goal, which is to promote the standardization of digital assets. In the long run, digital assets will definitely bring new opportunities to the development of the financial industries in both places.
02
New opportunities for mainland enterprises in Hong Kong
Under the background that mainland China's supervision of the field of virtual assets is still relatively strict, the release of the policy declaration will undoubtedly open a new door for related mainland enterprises. Some companies have begun to turn their attention to Hong Kong, hoping to gain greater development space here.
The policy declaration has a profound impact on the development of the virtual asset industry. It first affirms Hong Kong's regulatory independence and eliminates corporate concerns. In addition, the declaration also mentioned Hong Kong’s vision for the future regulatory framework, further clarifying the regulatory direction. It is foreseeable that Hong Kong will introduce more incentive policies in the future, such as simplifying the license application process, increasing talent and financial support, etc., to provide soil for innovative enterprises.
Under such policy guidance, some mainland companies will regard Hong Kong as a testing ground for innovation and explore and try out some innovative models in Hong Kong, such as the introduction of secondary market transaction review and price limit systems in the digital collection industry. If the practical results are good, it may be included in the regulatory standards by the Hong Kong government, which will affect the mainland and even the global market. This approach of piloting innovative models in Hong Kong will also help build Hong Kong into a source of innovation for global digital assets.
Of course, mainland enterprises will inevitably face some challenges when entering Hong Kong, such as cultural differences and different legal systems. The Hong Kong government has also provided strong support for this. Various investment promotion agencies can provide professional services to mainland enterprises free of charge to help them successfully establish themselves in Hong Kong, including assistance in establishing parks, applying for government resources, and contacting partners. The Hong Kong government and these professional institutions have provided solid support for mainland enterprises to develop in Hong Kong.
In addition, mainland enterprises that develop in Hong Kong, especially those related to digital collections, also need to pay attention to Hong Kong's local cultural resources, especially those related to creativity. This will not only help these companies adapt to the Hong Kong market from a cultural perspective, but also become an important business growth point. After all, creating unique local IP is also an important part of these companies' efforts to establish themselves in Hong Kong. At present, some mainland companies have begun to lay out IP related to Hong Kong, or cooperate with local artists to develop NFT digital collections. This not only helps them better integrate into Hong Kong culture, but also demonstrates their sense of social responsibility.
It can be seen that Hong Kong provides rare development opportunities for mainland enterprises related to the field of virtual assets. Hong Kong can serve as a springboard for mainland enterprises to expand into the global market, and can also be a window for exporting mainland innovation models and culture. With the dual support of policies and resources, Hong Kong has provided the soil for the vigorous development of the virtual asset industry, and will surely become the source of innovation and gathering place for global virtual assets in the future.
03
Opportunities and risks of Web3.0 in Hong Kong
In recent years, Asia has taken a leading position in the field of virtual assets. However, mainland China's strong supervision may cause relevant companies to face some policy obstacles in their operations and development. Singapore has already shown a tendency to become a new global virtual asset center. However, several recent major thunderstorms have also caused it to There have been some notable setbacks in this area.
At the same time, Hong Kong is looking for new economic growth points and long-term opportunities. For Hong Kong, on the one hand, the digital economy and emerging technology companies may be the key to boosting the economy; on the other hand, compared with mainland China and Singapore, Hong Kong has advantages in geographical location and policy environment. Through virtual assets The advancement of policies can help Hong Kong take the lead in emerging fields and lead the future development of this field. It is precisely based on the consideration of these two factors that Hong Kong has introduced a series of policies that may even be considered radical by the outside world, and has implemented a series of measures accordingly.
While striving to seize new opportunities in the Web 3.0 era, Hong Kong also has some challenges to overcome. For example, how to deal with the relationship between virtual assets and the traditional financial field? Although the two have differences in customer base and business scope, they still compete in attracting users and funds. In addition, virtual asset financing will also have an impact on traditional company listing financing methods. Some companies may choose virtual asset financing instead of traditional IPOs to avoid cumbersome approval processes and strict information disclosure requirements.
Since this year, U.S. regulatory agencies have successively filed lawsuits against several large virtual asset exchanges, which is seen as a signal to implement securities law supervision on the industry. The tough stance of the United States exposes virtual asset transactions to certain legal risks. Considering the close relationship between Hong Kong and the U.S. financial system, the United States' attitude toward virtual assets may also have a corresponding impact on Hong Kong's policies.
Without the two most important markets of mainland China and the United States, Hong Kong's virtual asset industry may face the risk of shrinking and its development prospects are worrying. However, the industry still has confidence and is full of expectations to explore emerging markets with development potential such as Southeast Asia and South America. However, this requires the entire industry to change its mentality of focusing on speculation in the past and shift to providing assistance for the development of the real economy in order to obtain better results. Widely accepted and recognized.
Overall, Hong Kong's policies on virtual assets are still being adjusted. The Hong Kong government has provided a positive, enterprising, open and inclusive attitude, which will help expand the virtual asset industry in the industry, which is generally optimistic about the development prospects of virtual assets in the Asia-Pacific region. There is room for development in the asset industry, while deeply cultivating the local market and exploring emerging markets. At the same time, it is very necessary for the industry to maintain active communication with regulatory authorities to prevent risks, strengthen compliance, and promote the healthy development of industry standards so that virtual assets can truly create economic value and win broad development space.
04
Looking to the future, co-creation and win-win
Internet technology is changing with each passing day. The Web 1.0 era mainly presented static information, while Web 2.0 has greatly expanded user participation and collaborative innovation. The industry believes that the Internet is in an important transition period from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0. Web 3.0 represents a new generation of decentralized, open, intelligent Internet that connects people and things. It is regarded as the third Internet after personal computers and mobile Internet. The wave of Internet revolution.
Typical features of Web 3.0 include the widespread application of emerging technologies such as blockchain, metaverse, and edge computing. These technologies can realize the digital transfer of assets and value, support the establishment of continuously upgraded open networks, and promote the digital transformation of industries.
In the field of Web 3.0, Hong Kong has a unique first-mover advantage. First, Asian companies have taken the lead in innovative applications of digital assets, and Hong Kong can seize the opportunity; second, compared to other regions, Hong Kong has a more flexible policy environment in terms of openness and inclusiveness, which is conducive to the innovative development of Web 3.0; Finally, Hong Kong has a strong financial services industry foundation and a unique location advantage connecting the mainland and the world.
The Chinese market has also provided important support for the development of Web 3.0 in Hong Kong. On the one hand, Hong Kong can leverage its policy advantages to attract mainland digital asset companies and customers to settle in Hong Kong; on the other hand, Hong Kong can make full use of its location advantages to bring cutting-edge global technology concepts to mainland China and promote the digital transformation and upgrading of mainland enterprises. In the future, Hong Kong is expected to become a "digital trade gateway" connecting the mainland's huge innovation resources and the global market.
Despite its huge potential, the development of Web 3.0 in Hong Kong also faces many challenges such as regulatory innovation, risk prevention and control, and social recognition. Only when the government, regulatory authorities, enterprises and all sectors of society work together can we promote its healthy and orderly development.
First of all, standardized development is the current focus. While the government provides policy support, regulatory authorities must refine regulations and standards to prevent risks. The industry itself needs to improve compliance levels and protect user rights; in addition, it should accelerate the promotion of Web 3.0 technology is applied to the real economy and truly empowers economic development. Only when Web 3.0 brings real convenience to the production and life of the general public can it win the recognition of all sectors of society.
05
write at the end
Overall, despite facing a series of challenges, Hong Kong still has the opportunity to leverage its unique location and policy advantages to seize the huge development opportunities of Web 3.0 and lead a new round of digital economic transformation.
However, throughout the development process, it also relies on the joint efforts of the government, regulatory authorities, enterprises and all sectors of society to standardize development, control risks, create a safe, transparent and efficient digital asset ecosystem, promote the development of the real economy, and jointly promote Hong Kong's development in new technologies. , the rise of new economic fields to achieve co-creation and win-win results.