HashKey Group, the proprietor of Hong Kong’s prime licensed crypto alternate, has reportedly filed for an preliminary public providing (IPO) within the metropolis.
In line with a Friday Bloomberg report citing nameless sources with data of the matter, HashKey Group could also be aiming for a list in Hong Kong this yr. The IPO may elevate as a lot as $500 million, based on the sources cited within the report.
HashKey is Hong Kong’s prime crypto alternate with a 24-hour quantity of almost $117 million on the time of writing, based on CoinGecko knowledge. The alternate’s recognition has additionally made it a goal for scammers.
In line with stories in January, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Fee (SFC) flagged 33 suspicious web sites masquerading as HashKey, one of many metropolis’s licensed cryptocurrency buying and selling platforms, taking the overall variety of recognized impersonators to 45. HashKey confirmed that it had no connection to any of the web sites.
Hashkey had not responded to Cointelegraph’s request for remark by publication.
Associated: Hong Kong guidelines restrict stablecoin derivatives buying and selling: DBS CEO
Hong Kong, a rising crypto hub
Hong Kong tightened its crypto oversight in August with new custody guidelines that ban good contracts in chilly wallets and impose stricter safety requirements, adopted days later by an SFC warning that the contemporary stablecoin framework was fueling fraud dangers. In September, DBS Hong Kong’s chief stated the town’s stablecoin guidelines would primarily block onchain derivatives buying and selling.
In early September, native media reported that Chinese language regulators had been making ready to limit mainland state-owned enterprises and banks from pursuing stablecoin and cryptocurrency initiatives in Hong Kong; nonetheless, the report has since been eliminated.
Associated: Animoca and Commonplace Chartered kind stablecoin enterprise in Hong Kong
HashKey is extra than simply an alternate
In September, HashKey launched a $500 million Digital Asset Treasury fund, with its CEO arguing that disciplined crypto treasuries will “survive any market.” In April, Hong Kong permitted HashKey to supply staking companies, with the goal of offering Ether (ETH) staking companies for spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
The corporate raised $30 million from Chinese language enterprise capital agency Gaorong Ventures at a $1.5 billion valuation in mid-February. This adopted HashKey changing into a so-called unicorn by exceeding a $1 billion valuation in mid-January after elevating virtually $100 million in a funding spherical at a pre-money valuation of over $1.2 billion.
Journal: China mocks US crypto insurance policies, Telegram’s new darkish markets: Asia Specific