The start of 2023 has offered cause for optimism, with price rallies across many major cryptocurrency projects, especially in the top 50 and among those embracing artificial intelligence technologies. International regulators are also seeing the start of 2023 as an excellent time to introduce new regulations, as in Hong Kong and France.
Hong Kong Opens Its Arms to Regulators
The Hong Kong government has expressed that it remains committed to developing cryptocurrency infrastructure despite the ongoing industry crisis caused by the collapse of FTX. Chan states that Hong Kong has become a foundation for gathering high-quality virtual assets companies. The finance secretary also added that in the past two months, the Hong Kong government has received many requests from crypto companies to set up global headquarters in the Chines SAR. Chan states that local governments and regulatory agencies are open to cooperation with crypto and fintech startups in 2023.
Hong Kong is doing its best to provide enough control to the crypto market to unlock the potential of technologies like Web3. Lawmakers passed a law in December to establish a licensing system for virtual asset providers. The new regulatory framework is designed to provide crypto exchanges with the same market awareness currently applied to traditional financial institutions.
Chan also noted that Hong Kong officials and regulators are conducting several pilot projects to test the potential benefits of virtual assets and explore related applications. He noted that one of the initiatives involves the issuance of symbolic green bonds by the Hong Kong government to institutional investors.
French Central Bank to Become Stricter
The president of the French central bank has proposed stricter regulatory requirements for the cryptocurrency sector due to the recent volatility.
Governor François Villeroy de Galhau proposed to replace the current registration of crypto companies with a license. The director also emphasized that France must act before upcoming EU regulations come into force and make French government licenses mandatory for digital asset providers (DASP).
At the time of writing, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), the French financial market authority, has registered about 60 crypto companies, including Binance. With everything happening in the cryptocurrency sector in 2022, François Villeroy de Galhau called on France to act as soon as possible to make the DASP license mandatory.
Digital asset service providers seeking a license will be expected to maintain certain standards in terms of business activity, available financial resources and organization.
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