Original source:text
Original source:
Alpha Rabbit Research Notes
Note: This article does not distinguish between Web3 and Web3.0.
first level title
1. About Hong Kong Web3.0 Association
（The Institute of Web3.0 Hong Kong）
secondary titleIntroduction of Hong Kong Web3.0 AssociationProvide suggestions for the future development of the industry through professional research and extensive consultation; cooperate with the government to implement relevant policies, including promoting social awareness of Web 3.0 and professional training,
Contribute to building Hong Kong into a world-leading Web 3.0 smart city and a safe and sustainable digital financial centre.
secondary title
2、Association Vision:1. Aim at the frontier of technology, gather technical elements, promote the improvement of Web 3.0 technology, create a new generation of Internet technology highland, and lead the development direction of Web 3.0 technologyBuild an industrial chain and communication platform for related industries,
Accelerate intelligent collaboration, resource sharing, technical exchange, and industrial cooperation,Provide advice and suggestions for the government, and seek common development plans
3. Promote the enrichment of Web 3.0 application scenarios, promote the integration of Web 3.0 into life, help Hong Kong become a "global digital financial center", and enhance Hong Kong's service capabilities to export to the world.
Become an important smart city window for China's opening up
4. Cultivate Hong Kong Web 3.0 talents, promote the introduction of Hong Kong Web 3.0-related talents, increase the popularity of Hong Kong Web 3.0 technology, and provide talent support for the prosperity of Hong Kong Web 3.0 applications.
The purpose and main tasks of the association:
1. Based on the principle of "equality, cooperation, and win-win", use the various resources of the members of the association to establish a communication platform for Web 3.0-related industries, promote cooperation among members and form consensus;
2. Promote the improvement and application of Web 3.0 technology, formulate Web 3.0 technical standards, stimulate the vitality of kinetic energy conversion, and realize the integrated development of the real economy and the digital economy;
4. To promote information sharing, industrial co-construction, and win-win cooperation among members of the association, and contribute to attracting and cultivating international-level scientific and technological talents and innovative teams;
first level title
2. Why Hong Kong? What is the importance of Hong Kong's status?
secondary titleHong Kong's positioning
Develop new financial innovations that are more cost-effective, inclusive, flexible and ground-breaking.
On April 4, 2023, Yu Weiwen, President of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, also stated at the Academic Annual Conference of the China Society for Finance and Banking and the Annual Conference of the China Financial Forum that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority will promote the research and application of digital renminbi cross-border payments and will continue to work with The People's Bank of China strengthened cooperation and tested digital RMB cross-border payment tools in Hong Kong to improve cross-border service efficiency and user experience; cooperated with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) to actively promote the cross-border central bank involving a number of central banks including the People's Bank of China The digital currency (CBDC) work project mBridge optimizes the process of cross-border payment, improves the efficiency of cross-border transactions, and reduces costs.
secondary title
Why can't Hong Kong's status be replaced?
Hong Kong has always been an important financial center for China to the outside world. The main points are as follows:
2. Unique tax system
3. A legal system that is inclusive, advances with the times, and globally credible
secondary titleSo, how to understand Hong Kong's free port system? Mainly the following angles:1. Freedom of trade:
Hong Kong implements negative list management for import and export trade. Except for a few items related to health, safety and ecological protection (such as medicines, weapons, animals and plants, etc.), all kinds of goods can freely enter and exit Hong Kong, with few quotas and trade controls. There are basically no active import and export quotas. Customs declaration procedures are very simple. Enterprises can import and export goods within 24 hours, and can consolidate the 14-day cargo list for customs declaration, which is efficient and convenient. The inspection rate of Hong Kong Customs is very low, less than one in a thousand.The highly convenient customs clearance policy creates conditions for enterprises to integrate orders from multiple places in Hong Kong port and build a complex supply chain system.2. Freedom to invest:Investing and starting a business in Hong Kong, the registration and registration procedures are simple and fast. After submitting an application for establishing a company online, the relevant certificate will generally be issued within 1 hour.
Enterprises operate extremely freely and are generally not subject to government intervention. Many industries regulate themselves through associations and other non-governmental organizations.However, the cost of breaking the law is very high, and once violations are discovered, they will face huge fines. Hong Kong treats foreign or local investors equally, implements a policy of less intervention and no subsidies, and provides a fair business environment for all companies doing business in Hong Kong. Hong Kong only implements conditional access to a few industries such as telecommunications, broadcasting, transportation, energy, wine product sales, restaurants, medicine and finance, and other industries are completely open. At the same time, Hong Kong provides convenient services for enterprises to invest abroad and encourages enterprises to "go out".3. Free access to funds.In Hong Kong, both local funds and foreign funds can enter and exit freely and flow freely. Hong Kong adopts a linked exchange rate system linked to the US dollar, and its capital and financial accounts are highly open.Residents and non-residents are allowed to open domestic and foreign currency accounts at home and abroad, and the account balance can be freely converted and transferred.
Enterprises can open multi-currency accounts in Hong Kong banks and use any currency for trade settlement; import and export have no balance of payments restrictions, and there are no deposits, prepaid funds, and financing restrictions. Hong Kong's capital market is fully open,There are no restrictions on foreign companies participating in local securities transactions, and international investors can freely buy and sell debt instruments issued in Hong Kong.
4. Freedom of international shipping.Hong Kong's shipping industry has developed in a highly open and free market system. The government's intervention in the shipping industry is very low. There are no customs, inspection and quarantine, border defense and other departments to implement additional supervision on ships and crews. There is no need for customs clearance when ships enter or leave the port from the sea, and the loading, unloading, transshipment and storage of inbound and outbound or transshipment goods in the port are not subject to customs restrictions.
5. Freedom of entry, exit and residence.Hong Kong implements a relaxed and open immigration policy. For visitors to Hong Kong, nationals of about 170 countries and regions are exempted from tourist visas to stay in Hong Kong for 7 to 180 days. It is also very convenient for outstanding talents from all walks of life in the world to work in Hong Kong. They only need to apply for a work visa to the Hong Kong SAR government. Hong Kong's immigration policy is committed to attracting professionals and investors to Hong Kong for development, and the conditions for foreigners who bring their spouses and children to work in Hong Kong are generous.6. Free flow of information.
Along with the prosperity of trade is the huge demand for information exchange. After the first Opium War, with the opening of Hong Kong, a number of English newspapers appeared in Hong Kong. From then on until the Second Opium War, regardless of the number of newspapers or the degree of commercialization of newspapers, the development of modern Chinese newspapers in Hong Kong was quite prosperous, making Hong Kong a center for newspapers. Hong Kong became the birthplace of modern journalism in China. Since Hong Kong's return to the motherland, although the newspaper industry has been impacted by online media, the circulation of Hong Kong newspapers has been "increasing". Entering the new era, Hong Kong has built a first-class communication infrastructure, with communication cables connecting 9 regions and across the Pacific Ocean, and is the first choice for multinational companies to set up data centers.
The flow of information in Hong Kong is free, regulators do not conduct any content censorship, and privacy protection is guaranteed by law. Because of this, Hong Kong has become an international innovation and application center for big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and blockchain in recent years.These six freedoms of Hong Kong are an important support for Hong Kong's free port system, and they are all benchmarks in free zones around the world. According to the 2019 Index of Economic Freedom, Hong Kong has been ranked as the world's freest economy for 27 consecutive years since 1995.The "Policy Declaration on the Development of Virtual Assets in Hong Kong" issued by the Hong Kong Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau in 2022 aims to clarify the policy stance and guidelines of the SAR government for the development of a thriving virtual asset industry and ecosystem in Hong Kong.
References:
With the gradual entry of traditional financial institutions around the world, virtual assets are indeed attractive to global investors, and they have also been recognized in a series of financial innovations.
https://www.zhihu.com/question/21123972/answer/2960903678? utm_id= 0
References:
1. Zhihu: Why is Hong Kong a free port? zxsxy's answer
3. Goals of the SAR GovernmentIn this part, we mainly refer to the "Policy Declaration on the Development of Virtual Assets in Hong Kong" issued by the Hong Kong Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau in 2022, which was also emphasized by Mr. Li Jiachao in his keynote speech on the establishment of the association.
The virtual asset industry in Hong Kong can develop sustainably and responsibly. Due to the continuous development of virtual assets, many new innovations will be triggered. Therefore, the legal and regulatory systems will also be fully coordinated to provide a convenient environment. As a part of technology, DLT and Web 3. 0 are likely to become the future development trend of finance and commerce.As long as it is properly regulated, technology will enable efficiency and transparency, thereby reducing the problems that currently occur in areas such as settlement and payments.Regional characteristics of Hong Kong:Hong Kong itself has a thriving virtual asset ecosystem,
If we look farther into other uses of virtual assets, such as art (NFT) and collectibles (NFT) trade, antique objects Tokenization,
Or from the perspective of financial innovation, the tokenization of different types of products (such as debt securities) will be a greater opportunity.(For example: Sotheby’s, a well-known international auction house, officially settled in 1973 and has been operating in Hong Kong for 50 years, and now Hong Kong is the third largest art trading center in the world after London and New York , and Hong Kong’s advantages as an Asian art market are very obvious - free port, sound legal system, located in the core area of Asia, complete financial and other related industries, and links between China and the West. Therefore, auction houses and galleries in mainland China or around the world are Flock here to open up a bigger market.)However, based on previous business experience: the SAR government will uphold the principle of "same business, same risk, and same rules". On the one hand, it will enable virtual asset innovation to flourish sustainably in Hong Kong.
On the other hand, it is also necessary to ensure that actual and potential risks to financial stability, consumer protection and combating money laundering and terrorist financing are mitigated and managed in accordance with international standards.
Hong Kong is an international financial center, and virtual assets are far-reaching. We also need to closely monitor the ever-evolving and new regulatory developments in the world, and take them into account when formulating a regulatory system.
(The author also participated in the 2022 Bank for International Settlements Innovation Summit. At that time, Eddie YUE of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority also pointed out at the meeting that although DeFi has a relatively small market in the financial field, in the past few years, DeFi and Encrypted assets combine and develop very fast. In just 2 years, the market has grown from nothing to a level with a total value of more than 100 billion US dollars. For many developers and users, DeFi provides two major benefits: Managed + open source attributes, and compatibility.
The potential of DeFi lies in the possibility of adopting a decentralized structure that does not require intermediaries, thereby providing increased efficiency and lower usage costs. Transactions on DeFi protocols are usually executed automatically using smart contracts. Secondly, many uses are actually promoting innovation and competition, especially considering the compatibility of DeFi protocols, which means that the components and parts of DeFi protocols can actually be combined or stacked together to create innovation. For example: new financial products or services are a bit like financial Lego. You can directly refer to other people’s works in an open source environment to build what you want. The main assets of DeFi are mainly concentrated in encrypted assets and stable coins.However, the risks of DeFi include the marketing integrity or market behavior and financial stability associated with it, as well as the risk of platform default itself. There is also the spillover risk of decentralized finance to the current financial system, in particular, the spillover risk generated by the increasing connection and correlation between DeFi and traditional finance, which is very important. DeFi actually proposes an attempt to reconstruct or imitate traditional financial functions. In traditional finance, we can also see the risks of fraud and compliance, such as money laundering and terrorist financing; including because of the lack of proper investor protection regulations, many customers and users are not actually fully protected )
Virtual asset regulatory framework:Licensing virtual asset exchanges on an "opt-in" basis. In terms of asset management, regulators have issued guidelines on the management of virtual asset funds and discretionary accounts. In addition, regulators provide guidance to banks and financial institutions on virtual asset-related products, conducting virtual asset transactions, or providing advice on virtual assets.With regard to the various regulatory regimes, it is alsoWide range of industriessupport, through unanimous,
A well-defined and clear regulatory framework that helps lay a solid foundation,
In order to meet the financial innovation and technological development brought about by the rapid development of global virtual assets.
Under the new system, virtual asset exchanges, like the current traditional financial institutions, must comply with the regulations on combating money laundering and terrorist financing and protecting investors, which will help licensed virtual asset exchanges establish their status and credibility, making them Access to more investors in the Hong Kong market.Another benefit is that financial intermediaries and banks will be able to cooperate with licensed counterparts from the virtual asset sector and provide virtual asset trading services to customers subject to compliance with relevant regulatory conditions. From the perspective of virtual asset exchanges, the licensing regime allows them to open up new distribution channels in Hong Kong to take advantage of the city's massive asset and wealth management market worth over US$4.5 trillion. While stepping up preparations for the new licensing system, we are also happy to contact the global virtual asset industry and invite relevant exchanges to explore business opportunities in Hong Kong. Investor exposure to virtual assets
Global investors (whether institutional investors or retail investors) are increasingly accepting virtual assets as an asset that can be used for investment allocation. However, for the SAR government, according to the "About Hong Kong Virtual Asset Development Policy Statement of theThe SAR government maintains a cautious and prudent attitude towards the risks of retail investors, strengthens investor education, and ensures appropriate regulatory arrangements.
Hong Kong is endowed with unique conditions,
The "14th Five-Year Plan" also proposed that Hong Kong will continue to support Hong Kong in enhancing its status as an international financial, shipping and trade center; strengthen Hong Kong as a global offshore RMB business hub, international asset management center and risk management center, and support Hong Kong's service industry to high-end and high value-added direction development.
