Hong Kong has set out plans to submit legislation before the end of 2026 that would create licensing regimes for virtual asset dealing, custody, advisory and management services. According to reports from Crypto.news, Hong Kong Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui announced during an October 5 Legislative Council Finance Committee policy briefing that the government would introduce an amendment bill covering these four service areas this year. The proposal follows consultations completed by the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau and Securities and Futures Commission, with the legislation expected to be introduced to lawmakers before the end of 2026.
For virtual asset dealing, the proposed regime is designed to follow parts of the framework used for Type 1 securities dealing, with the SFC licensing and supervising firms carrying out covered dealing activities. As reported by Crypto.news, custody rules focus on firms responsible for safeguarding private keys belonging to clients, covering risks tied to holding client virtual assets in Hong Kong. Advisory and management services would operate under separate licensing regimes, with advisory rules following Type 4 securities regulation and virtual asset management modeled on Type 9 asset-management requirements. Regulators have used the principle of 'same business, same risks, same rules' when developing these proposals.
Hong Kong began consulting on standalone dealing and custody licenses in June 2025, receiving more than 190 responses before the FSTB and SFC published their conclusions on December 24. According to Crypto.news, authorities opened another consultation for advisory and management services that closed in January 2026, attracting 51 responses from market participants. The FSTB and SFC confirmed the results in May, saying they would finalize legislative proposals under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance. The proposed crypto advisory and management licensing rules received support during the consultation process, with existing and prospective providers encouraged to contact the SFC before the law takes effect.
The new bill would sit alongside licensing systems that are already operating in Hong Kong. As reported by Crypto.news, Hong Kong's virtual asset trading platform regime requires covered exchanges serving the local market to obtain SFC authorization, with existing platforms facing requirements covering investor protection, governance, asset handling and anti-money laundering controls. The SFC introduced stricter crypto custody standards covering cold wallets, withdrawals and cybersecurity controls in August 2025. Stablecoin issuance falls under another system overseen by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, with the Stablecoins Ordinance taking effect on August 1, 2025, requiring businesses to obtain licenses for fiat-referenced stablecoin issuance.
The SFC is scheduled to bring a digital asset custody surveillance system into operation during the second half of 2026, with its CrypTech program expected to add big-data market surveillance and anti-money laundering monitoring components in 2027. According to Crypto.news, the HKMA plans to introduce central bank digital currency settlement and 24/7 operations through EnsembleTX around the end of 2026. The authority's annual report confirms that the first two stablecoin issuer licenses were granted in April 2026, with the HKMA's 2025 annual report showing support for tokenized central-bank money being developed during 2026.
