Sam Bankman-Fried: Hong Kong Potentially Becomes One Of The World Crypto Centers
JAKARTA Sam Bankman-Fried or SBF filled the Hong Kong's FinTech Week 2022 event recently. The founder of one of the largest crypto exchanges in the US, FTX, stated that Hong Kong has the potential to become a crypto center and Web3 Asia.
According to a Forkast News report, SBF noted a number of important locations that could potentially become crypto centers including Dubai and the Bahamas. However, the picture is much opaque for the Asian region. Meanwhile, Singapore and South Korea do have the potential to become crypto centers in the region. The SBF said Hong Kong would claim the title.
"If you look at what will become a crypto center in the world, I think the Bahamas looks like one of them, Dubai looks like one of them, but if you look to the East, it's not so clear. It could be Singapore, it could be somewhere like Busan in Korea, but I think there's a real possibility that it will end up being Hong Kong, "said SBF, quoted by CryptoSlate.
Based on Chainalysis' 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index, Hong Kong ranks 46th among 146 countries evaluated based on their crypto adoption rate. According to Global State of Crypto Gemini, Hong Kong is leading crypto adoption in the Asia-Pacific region, with 24 percent of the population owning crypto assets. More than half (51 percent) crypto owners in Hong Kong acquired their crypto assets in 2021.
Hong Kong released a policy statement on October 31 and announced its plans to create a "dynamical sector and ecosystem" for crypto. According to reports, Hong Kong will allow crypto ETFs and develop pro-crypto regulations. The statement also revealed that the Hong Kong government has been working on pilot projects such as the issuance of NFTs for Hong Kong Fintech Week, Green Bond Tokenization, and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
A number of company executives from the crypto industry support Sam Bankman's statement. One of them is Zheng Zhigang, CEO of New World, who is also a speaker at Hong Kong's Fintech Week'. Besides Zhigang, Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek also expressed his support regarding Hong Kong's potential to become a crypto center as stated by SBF.
"Good news for the entire industry coming from HK today, highlighting support for crypto and the desire to rebuild dynamic crypto centers. We wholeheartedly support this development," Kris Marszalek said.
In addition, 100x Co-Founder, Arthur Hayes, and TRON (TRX) founder Justin Sun also expressed their support for positive policies on crypto issued by the Hong Kong government.
"TronDao and HuobiGlobal actively support the Hong Kong government's new crypto policy," Justin Sun said in a Twitter post, October 31, 2022 yesterday.