A one-year grace period for cryptocurrency exchanges in Hong Kong will continue despite recent scandals. Julia Leung, Hong Kong’s Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, stated that fraud will still occur even if the grace period ends, so there are no plans to modify the grace period or other measures at this time. New regulations require crypto exchanges in Hong Kong to apply for a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license by June 2024 or face deregistration. However, unregistered exchanges can still operate during the transition period. Hong Kong has experienced several crypto scandals, including the collapse of unlicensed exchange JPEX and a recent scam by another unlicensed exchange called Hounax. The scams involved Ponzi schemes and resulted in significant financial losses for residents. HKVAEX, a Binance-linked exchange, is currently attempting to apply for a license in Hong Kong. BC Technology Group, the owner of OSL exchange, also secured a $90 million investment from blockchain firm BGX.

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Information	Details
Geography	Asia
Countries	🇭🇰
Sentiment	neutral
Relevance Score	1
People	Chan Waikei, Julia Leung
Companies	JPEX, Hounax, Binance-linked HKVAEX, Hong Kong Police’s commercial crime bureau, BC Technology Group
Currencies	Hong Kong Dollar
Securities	None