The New Decade of Web3 in Hong Kong

On July 1, 2025, Hong Kong will celebrate the 28th anniversary of its return to the embrace of the motherland. This city has transformed from the Pearl of the East into an international financial center, always at the forefront of global institutional integration and capital flow. Today, Hong Kong is embarking on a new journey: using Web3 as the technological foundation and digital assets as the financial core, redefining the connotation of "financial center" with a global perspective and policy advantages.

Hong Kong's Web3 journey is not just an industrial upgrade, but an extension of the country's strategy of "leading high-quality development with technological innovation", marking a historic leap in the deep integration of the technological revolution and financial civilization.

From the establishment of the financial free port, to the release of the virtual asset policy declaration in 2022, and then to the launch of the "Hong Kong Digital Asset Development Policy Declaration 2.0" (Policy Declaration 2.0) in 2025, Hong Kong has consistently responded to the uncertainties of the industry with clear policies.

The Policy Declaration 2.0 not only strengthens regulation but also undergoes a comprehensive upgrade around the "LEAP" strategic framework: Legal (compliance), Expanding (asset tokenization expansion), Advancing (application scenario expansion), and People (talent development). This reflects Hong Kong's comprehensive layout and long-term planning in the field of digital assets.

The main content includes:

• Clarify the regulation of stablecoins, with the stablecoin licensing system officially implemented on August 1, 2025, setting a global precedent.
• Prioritize the tokenization of RWA, promote the normalization of bond issuance, and plan to include assets such as gold, green energy, and electric vehicles in the tokenization scope.
• Tokenized ETFs and digital asset funds enjoy exemptions from stamp duty and capital gains tax, enhancing tax competitiveness.
• The number of digital asset trading platform licenses has increased to 11, gradually opening up channels for derivatives and leveraged financing.
• Promote talent development, the Cyberport Innovation Fund collaborates with universities to build a Web3 talent ecosystem.

These measures reflect Hong Kong's high confidence in the compatibility and openness of its financial system, and represent a strategic choice to position Hong Kong as a "bridgehead" in the international financial game.

Technical Habitat, Capital Channel, New Boundaries of Trust

The development of Web3 is not only a technological iteration but also a fundamental reshaping of the paradigms of efficiency and trust. In an era where the world is looking forward to a new generation of financial infrastructure, Hong Kong has chosen a pragmatic and visionary path: neither blindly following trends nor being complacent.

"Technical habitat" not only refers to the landing experiments of underlying technologies like blockchain in Hong Kong, but also to the joint empowerment of regulatory systems and financial scenarios, enabling it to truly step out of the ivory tower of "code" and "white papers". Nowadays, mechanisms such as on-chain asset issuance, on-chain clearing, and on-chain identity verification have blossomed in multiple locations in Hong Kong, becoming public goods in reality.

The "Capital Channel" not only reflects Hong Kong's role as a hub for the flow of offshore RMB and global capital markets but also emphasizes its ability to connect the traditionally "incompatible" systems of traditional finance and Web3. As a head of a family office stated: "In Hong Kong, digital assets can finally be allocated in a portfolio just like funds and bonds."

"Trusting New Frontiers" is not an abstract concept, but a reality being constructed through the collaboration of law, technology, and systems. The immutability of on-chain transaction records, the verifiability of audit mechanisms, and the coordinated advancement of KYC and AML frameworks have rebuilt a trust system in Web3 that can be recognized by institutions. To some extent, Hong Kong has transformed "compliance" from a constraint into an accelerator.

In this innovative practice, Hong Kong has emerged a group of leading enterprises that actively participate in and lead industrial transformation. For example, a certain company has launched Hong Kong's first on-chain securities product in collaboration with traditional financial institutions, with the first-day trading volume exceeding 200 million HKD. The comprehensive account service launched by its licensed virtual asset exchange covers 90% of licensed brokers in Hong Kong, significantly lowering the threshold for institutional participation.

The "Hong Kong Question" in the New Global Order

Against the backdrop of the re-game between the dollar system and technological capital, China needs a new financial space that connects global resources, promotes the evolution of digital asset systems, and undertakes pilot missions. Hong Kong is steadily standing at the intersection of this global pattern reshaping.

The introduction of Web3 policies is not coincidental, but rather an inevitable result of the choices of the times, supported by profound economic and technological logic behind it:

• Although the capital market has not yet migrated to the chain on a large scale, the efficiency of on-chain asset circulation has significantly improved. For example, the on-chain settlement time has been shortened from the traditional T+2 to seconds, and transaction costs have been reduced by over 80%.
• The global fiat currency system continues to be under pressure, with the average number of interest rate hikes by major central banks worldwide in 2024 reaching the highest level in recent years, further driving the institutional demand for stablecoins as "technology-based currency."
• The integration of artificial intelligence and blockchain is profoundly changing the underlying structure of finance, with on-chain credit, on-chain identity, and on-chain transaction logic constructing a completely new trust framework.
• The financial cognitive structure of the younger generation is undergoing a transformation, with trust shifting from licensed institutions to on-chain consensus mechanisms, driving the rapid growth of a new financial system.

Against this backdrop, the policy innovation space provided by Hong Kong, with the accumulation of trust as an international financial center and Web3 Policy 2.0 as the engine, is accelerating its transformation into a global digital asset hub.

Hong Kong's role is no longer just as a "regulatory sandbox", but as a global hub for Web3 strategic resources, a two-way channel connecting traditional finance and decentralized finance (DeFi) in Asia, and a regulatory framework for the compliance of RWA and stablecoins.

In an era where on-chain efficiency continues to improve and the institutionalization of digital assets is on the rise, Hong Kong should undoubtedly play a leading role in the new global financial order.

Conclusion: The Bidirectional Choice of Era and Hong Kong

2025 is a key juncture for Hong Kong to restart with digital sovereignty and institutional innovation. Web3 is not only a technological revolution but also a strategic anchor that Hong Kong has actively found in global governance, financial competition, and the reconstruction of technological paradigms. We are witnessing a new decade of digital economy belonging to Hong Kong, China, and even the world.