More than 150 Web3 companies have now commenced operations in Hong Kong, according to a statement by the Financial Secretary.
The landmark achievement is a dividend of the Cyberport program, a scheme devised to accelerate the growth of innovation and technology. According to the report, about 50 million yuan (over $6.9million) was specifically allocated towards Cyberport to facilitate the development of Web3 businesses. This figure represents almost 10 percent of the 457 million yuan ($64m) budgeted for the entire program.
The scheme is already showing great signs of becoming the much-desired catalyst for growth in the Web3 space. One of the companies birthed by Cyberport became the second digital asset trading platform to be licensed by the Hong Kong Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) per the new report.
Hong Kong continues to position itself as next crypto hub
Hong Kong is aggressively ramping up efforts towards becoming the next blockchain hub. It introduced a new crypto legislation that enables licensed exchanges to serve retail traders in May and began to receive a handful of applications from major exchanges shortly after.
The country’s pro-crypto stance lately has piqued the interest of leading exchanges like Huobi and Gate.io who have both applied for virtual asset licensing. On 31 May, Huobi became the first member of Hong Kong’s virtual asset consortium – a new body tasked with the responsibility of rating digital asset trading platforms.
Hong Kong’s significant strides in establishing itself as a highly desirable jurisdiction for blockchain-based companies received a tremendous boost due to the actions taken by the United States’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which have inadvertently worked in its favour. Following the SEC’s charges against Coinbase, member of Hong Kong’s legislative council, Johnny Ng Kit-chong extended an invite to the embattled exchange. He further promised to assist with their development efforts.
“I hereby offer an invitation to welcome all global virtual asset trading operators including @coinbase to come to HK for application of official trading platforms and further development plans. Please feel free to approach me and I am happy to provide any assistance,” he tweeted.
Chong, who is a long-term advocate of blockchain and cryptocurrencies co-founded G-rocket, a Web3 startup accelerator based in Greater China. The company recently commenced a new program dubbed ‘Hong Kong Web3.0 Hub’ with the aim of helping 1,000 Web3 businesses establish in Hong Kong within three years.
Chong told media months later that the program had already birthed about 400 businesses and that he expects about 50k to 100k Web3 jobs to be available within the next four years.
