Here’s Why Binance, OKX Withdew Licensing Applications In Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s ambitions to turn out to be the most-desired vacation spot for Web3 and crypto appear to be taking a backseat as among the prime world exchanges have withdrawn their licensing purposes from Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Fee (SFC).

World Exchanges Withdraw from Hong Kong

As per the native information report, among the prime world exchanges like Binance, Huobi, and OKX have determined to withdraw their utility over the past week of Might. A complete of 11 exchanges have withdrawn their purposes leaving solely 11 candidates on the listing.

The Hong Kong SFC mandates that each one candidates for digital asset buying and selling platform licenses signal a letter of dedication, making certain they don’t have mainland Chinese language customers in any area. This requirement poses a big problem for conventional offshore exchanges. OKX tried to kind an business alliance to contest this stipulation however was in the end unsuccessful.

A few of the business insiders famous that the withdrawn entity may revise its authorized entity or framework and reapply sooner or later. Nevertheless, it shouldn’t use a model much like that of offshore exchanges in its utility.

Are HK’s Web3 Ambitions Over?

With OKX exiting Hong Kong, many within the crypto group have began questioning whether or not Hong Kong’s Web3 ambitions are over.

A number of people in Hong Kong’s WeChat circles have accused the authorities of timidity and extreme warning when implementing the brand new system. They argue that the authorities’ conservative and risk-averse strategy, rooted in conventional monetary considering, has weakened the competitiveness and adaptability of the licenses. Consequently, some operators determined to withdraw their purposes on the remaining stage, regardless of having invested substantial assets and upfront prices.

The writer famous a number of areas of concern with the brand new licensing system. Firstly, numerous insurance policies and measures associated to the event of Hong Kong’s digital asset market—resembling VATP, stablecoin issuance, and digital asset over-the-counter buying and selling—had been designed by completely different departments with out cohesive strategic concerns for industrial growth.

These insurance policies entered the session stage or legislative course of at completely different occasions, resulting in a phased completion of your complete Web3 structure. This protracted course of has struggled to maintain tempo with the speedy evolution of expertise.