Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission stated it would permit retail investors to trade specific crypto assets from next month on registered trading platforms

Prices of cryptocurrencies increased on Tuesday after Hong Kong’s securities regulator announced it will permit retail trading of specific crypto assets from June 1.

Bitcoin gained 1.7 per cent to $27,293.64, as per Coin Metrics. The biggest cryptocurrency has been trading in a small range all through May, struggling to break past $30k but hovering above $25k. Ether added around 2 per cent to $1,851.91.

Late Monday night, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission stated it would permit retail investors to trade specific crypto assets from next month on registered trading platforms. The move was widely anticipated, with the declaration marking the end of a request for public comment the securities regulator put out in February on its proposed regulatory requisites around retail crypto trading.

The new guidelines are part of Hong Kong’s wider attempts to become an international crypto centre. That aspiration is in sharp contradiction with China, which barred crypto trading in 2021, and the U.S. where the regulatory stance on crypto has become aggressive since FTX’s collapse.

This news does not imply that a lot of retail purchasing power will come into the market at the start of June. We could see some volume gain in June, however, stated Noelle Acheson, economist and author of the “Crypto is Macro Now” newsletter.

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission has already authorised two digital asset platforms, OSL and Hash Blockchain, and it is likely some are already actively trading abroad, Acheson added.

Owen Lau, an expert at Oppenheimer, called Hong Kong “pretty aggressive” for attempting to become a crypto centre.

It will continue to catch the attention of the community and draw more companies to set up offices in Hong Kong, Lau added. It is difficult to determine the precise effect but it has a long-term impact on capital flow and talent movement.