According to foreign media reports, Web3 companies that currently want to apply for a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license in Hong Kong will have to spend about 20 million to 200 million Hong Kong dollars (about 2.55 million to 25.5 million U.S. dollars) to obtain the license. The reason why there is such a sky-high price is that foreign media say that today’s traditional financial institutions have no relevant infrastructure and all aspects of their teams and products are starting from scratch. That’s why the VASP cost price is so high, and even if there are related It is also difficult for crypto industry companies with application experience to complete license applications at a very cheap price.
In addition to investing heavily in applying for a Hong Kong VASP license, what other preparations do you need to make?
On June 1 this year, Hong Kong’s “Guidelines for Virtual Asset Trading Platforms” were officially launched, and operators of virtual asset trading platforms were accepted to apply for licenses. So far, exchanges such as OKX, BitgetX, HashKey Pro, OSL, and Gate.io have established subsidiaries in Hong Kong. The company started operations.
If you want to obtain a license, relying solely on local resources in Hong Kong will be insufficient. In addition to spending a lot of money, it will also take a lot of time and manpower to process. For example, OKX started preparations as early as 2022 and organized 20 members including the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission (SFC), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), international law firms, and licensed financial institutions to assist OKX in Hong Kong's legal process Compliance Application Process. Although the specific total amount spent has not been disclosed, since OKX established its Hong Kong subsidiary on March 28, as of June 27, there have been nearly 8,800 new registered users in Hong Kong, the cumulative transaction volume has reached 150 million US dollars, and the total number of employees has exceeded 500 people.
In addition to advance preparation and resource integration, leadership experience in management of financial institutions, Internet companies, and cryptocurrency investment experience are also crucial factors. Take Patrick Pan, CEO of BitgetX, as an example. He has served as the chief operating officer of a cryptocurrency exchange, CEO of Hong Kong's BabyTree Group, vice president of Beike Housing Group, senior director of Alibaba Group, and vice president of 360 Group. He has integrated traditional finance , technology companies and cryptocurrency market insights.
Just one month after the "Virtual Asset Trading Platform Guidelines" opened license applications, Hong Kong's virtual asset rating agency HKVAC announced Hong Kong's latest virtual asset index rating, which includes the "Large Market Capitalization Cryptocurrency Market Index" and the "Risk Rating Cryptocurrency Index" Two major items, and are judged based on average activity maintained for three months and top 30 market value rankings, including: "WBTC, BTCB, stETH, BCH, LTC, BNB, MATIC, ADA, ATOM, FIL, NEAR, ALGO, "ICP, XRP, DOGE, DOT, WTRX, SHIB, TRX, LINK, LEO, XMR, And tokens that are recognized as securities by the SEC are therefore considered by industry insiders to have limited reference value.
This Article Obtaining a VASP License in Hong Kong Costs US$25 Million! What other abilities are needed besides spending money? First appeared in Block Guest.