HashKey, an Asia-based crypto exchange, is venturing into the lands of Hong Kong after securing the operational license under the new licensing regime. Livio Weng, the Chief Operating Officer of HashKey, interacted with the media to share that HashKey will go live in the region on August 28, 2023, which is next Monday.
The offering is initially only for retail traders, giving them access to the two most popular digital tokens. Bitcoin and ether will be the first tokens to go live on the crypto exchange platform. The reason for choosing Bitcoin and ether is that the market trend is currently bearish, making it difficult to trade altcoins for their high volatility. While that is one factor that sticks around the crypto industry, Bitcoin and ether are said to be less risky during such times. Hence, their introduction is being done at an initial stage.
Another reason that Weng has hinted is that offering popular digital tokens first will help onboard millions of retail traders faster. Assuming the response is good, HashKey has said that they will target 10 million users in the ecosystem by the end of 2025.
It could be largely backed by the most anticipated bullish trend of the market in the next year. By the looks of the current trend, one can only be unsure if the next year will be THE YEAR for cryptocurrency, no matter the token.
BTC was last seen being traded at $26,093.50, a fall of 10.75% in the last 30 days. Expectations are for BTC to cross the $30k mark and then move toward the $100k figure by the end of this year. Not that the said figure is impossible to achieve, but trends are not exactly going in the way of the crypto industry.
Ether is struggling as well. It has slipped by 11.01% in the last 1 month, dropping down to $1,652.87. Ether is often teased as the next BTC, but the gap is only widening in the last couple of months.
Nevertheless, the crypto industry is hopeful that they will have better returns in the next year.
Weng has said that Chinese IP Addresses are strictly prohibited from accessing their platform in Hong Kong. This follows the decision taken by the Chinese territory to ban digital tokens back in September 2021. Retail traders in Hong Kong will have to link their bank cards with the exchange to fund the profiles through local currency. Alternatively, they may choose to leverage the US Dollar.
Moving forward, HashKey is attempting to partner with five local brokerage firms to offer crypto trading services to users. This will directly connect investors to the platforms of a broker. This has the potential of onboarding tens of millions of users to HashKey.
HashKey and the relevant financial regulator of Hong Kong are working collectively for a more optimistic outcome.
