Interactive Brokers, an American multinational brokerage firm, has launched a crypto trading service in Hong Kong as the region is set to become a new safe harbor for the market.
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In a press release, the Connecticut-headquartered firm said that professional investors as well as individual investors with over HKD 8 million (more than $1 million) who are residents of Hong Kong could trade bitcoin (EXANTE: Bitcoin) and ether (ETH). The platform is developed by OSL Digital Securities and charges 0.20-0.30% of trade value, depending on monthly volume, with a $2.25 minimum per order.
The brokerage says the move is a response to a growing interest amid its clients in cryptocurrencies and the collaboration is "poised to make a significant impact on the Hong Kong digital asset market."
In early February, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said in a consultation paper that stablecoins that derive their value "based on arbitrage or algorithm" would not be allowed in the region, referring to the crash of the Terra ecosystem.
The HKMA said it would build a new regulatory framework starting with stablecoins that "purport to reference to one or more fiat currencies" as they pose more risks to monetary and financial stability. The financial regulator will particularly focus on stablecoin's governance mechanisms, their issuance and monitor wallets that can store these assets.
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