Ye Zhiheng: Draft Regulations on Virtual Asset Trading, Custody, Management, and Advisory Reach 260 Pages

On April 20, at the 2026 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival, Ye Zhiheng, Executive Director of the Intermediaries Division of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, delivered a keynote speech. He reviewed six major milestones since the Commission launched the ASPIRe roadmap last year, including allowing licensed platforms to offer staking services, conducting joint consultations on virtual asset trading and custody regulations, opening up perpetual contracts and margin financing frameworks, and launching plans to enhance market defenses through technology. He noted that the draft regulations on virtual asset trading, custody, management, and advisory have reached 260 pages and were received last week. The work for the next 12 months will focus on three major clusters: first, promoting innovation through regulation by advancing legislative and regulatory guidance consultations; second, promoting innovation through practice by gradually allowing tokenized authorized funds to trade on licensed platforms; and third, promoting innovation through interaction by advancing automated reporting, signing international bilateral memoranda, and frameworks to combat financial crime. He emphasized that Hong Kong is 'moving steadily forward, gaining speed through stability.'