Hong Kong's authorities have just agreed that all crypto trading platforms must be regulated in order to legally operate. So far, this requirement only applied to platforms trading securities, Reuters reports.
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The CEO of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), Ashley Alder, has said the regulator has so far been applying a selective legal framework to crypto trading platforms, resulting in some of them operating beyond the control of regulators.
Several popular crypto exchanges are currently operating from Hong Kong, including Huobi, OKEx and BitMEX.
Hong Kong announced back in February the tightening of the requirements for crypto exchanges in the context of an appeal by the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF). Alder states:
"We have met with a variety of crypto operators to determine if they can operate in a regulated environment. After an in-depth examination of the unique technical and operational features of these platforms, we finally concluded that some could be regulated by us."