"Hong Kong missed the dividends of Web1 and Web2, so we won't miss out on Web3," stressed Hanjing Liang, Head of Financial Technology of the HKSAR Government's Investment Promotion Agency, in a recent interview with Meta Universe NEWS.
Since the HKSAR Government issued the "Policy Statement on the Development of Virtual Assets in Hong Kong" on October 31 last year, the atmosphere of local Web3 development in Hong Kong has been blazing. It is understood that more than 150 related companies have settled in Hong Kong Cyberport cumulatively in the past year.
On February 22 this year, the 2023/2024 Budget allocated HK$50 million for Cyberport to accelerate the development of the third-generation Internet Web3 with blockchain as the underlying technology. From June 1, the "Guidelines Applicable to Operators of Virtual Asset Trading Platforms" issued by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission came into effect and began accepting applications for licenses from operators of virtual asset trading platforms.
From a series of actions, it can be seen that the HKSAR Government is looking forward to the development of Web3 in Hong Kong, hoping to build a flourishing Web3 ecosystem and even lead the industry in terms of technological breakthroughs, model innovation and application innovation.
- Hong Kong does not want to miss out on Web3
According to the "2022 Global Blockchain Sector Talent Report - Web3.0 Directions" released by OKX in conjunction with Collage, as of June 2022, blockchain talent in Singapore is growing faster, making it one of the top five blockchain talent countries in the world. In September 2022, almost all global events in Asia were held in Singapore.
However, Hong Kong, China is not standing idly by and is trying to regain its position as Asia's financial center, with Web3 emerging as a key direction to try.
"Last year was also a very special year in that Singapore was very open and friendly in terms of virtual assets. So many Chinese run to Singapore, they have the capital, the talent, it's a very attractive segment." Hanjing Liang, head of financial technology at the Hong Kong SAR government's investment promotion agency, told Meta Universe NEWS that because Hong Kong's economy has been hit so hard in the past few years, there needs to be a track to restart Hong Kong's economy. If you look at the macro level, something else needs to be done to have a chance.
"Hong Kong missed the dividends of Web1 and Web2, so we won't miss out on Web3," stressed Han King Leung.
For how to build a good Web3 ecology in Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR Government Investment Promotion Agency Head of Financial Technology, Mr. Leung Han-king, told reporters that there are three main steps: the first step is the policy aspect is to support, and now the first step has been taken out.
The second step is to gather talents. Talent and capital direction flow, so now Hong Kong is also very active in inviting some head of Web3 funds to land in Hong Kong.
The third step is the need to pick some strategic and high projects, such as infrastructure construction. We are also introducing some professors and talents from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University to dock to some Layer1 and Layer2 project parties.
"The virtual asset market has fluctuated dramatically over the past period of time, and there have also been recent virtual asset exchange closures, making some people in the community skeptical about the future of Web3. However, we believe this is the best time to promote Web3." The Financial Secretary of the HKSAR Government, Mr. Paul Chan, also pointed out in an article published recently that in order for the third generation Internet to take a prudent path of innovation and development, the HKSAR Government will adopt a strategy that places equal emphasis on both appropriate regulation and promotion of development.
- Series of actions to attract Web3 enterprises
In October 2022, at the opening ceremony of Hong Kong Fintech Week, the Policy Declaration on the Development of Virtual Assets in Hong Kong officially kicked off the curtain of the HKSAR Government's strong support and promotion of the Web3 industry, which also set off a wave of global attention to the Web3 industry in Hong Kong.
In order to seize the opportunities of Web3, the HKSAR Government released a new Budget in February this year, allocating HK$50 million to Cyberport to accelerate the development of the Web3 ecosystem in Hong Kong, especially to promote cross-sector business cooperation.
On April 11, the Hong Kong Web3 Association held an inauguration ceremony at HKEx, co-sponsored by a number of Chinese organizations in Hong Kong and Hong Kong universities, with members including Chen Chun, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, members of the HKSAR Legislative Council, financial technology practitioners, university professors and other people from all walks of life.
To highlight the HKSAR government's support for the Web3 industry, the Chief Executive of HKSAR, Mr. Li Ka-chiu, attended the inauguration ceremony and delivered a speech, saying that the National 14th Five-Year Plan clearly supports Hong Kong to build an international innovation and technology center, and that innovation and technology is a key development area for Hong Kong, and the development of Web 3 is at its golden starting point. This disruptive technology can change many old business models and create more new opportunities. We look forward to working with the SAR Government to accelerate the development of innovation and finance in Hong Kong and to embrace the huge opportunities brought by the development of Web 3 and the virtual asset industry.
On June 1, the "Guidelines for Virtual Asset Trading Platform Operators" and "Anti-Money Laundering Guidelines" issued by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) came into effect; with immediate effect, the SFC began accepting applications for licenses from virtual asset trading platform operators, and many companies have already applied for licenses.
"The global Web3 industry as a whole is still at an early stage of development, and at this time the HKSAR government has clearly expressed its support and established an association, and the SAR Chief Executive attended and delivered a speech, which undoubtedly provides a very good soil for the development of Web3, and to a large extent can form a gathering place for Web3 and form an industry gathering effect. " Wang Siyuan, vice president of Shaanxi Blockchain Technology and Industry Development Research Association, said to the reporter of Yuanxuan NEWS that Hong Kong itself is one of the global financial centers and has three major advantages of openness, flexibility and robustness at the same time, from this perspective, Hong Kong has more first-mover advantages in developing Web3.
3、What do Hong Kong Web3 entrepreneurs think?
Liu Hao Yu, head of the Digital Finance Lab at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, previously worked in traditional finance and is now starting a Web3 public education project.
"Previously I did a DeFi (decentralized finance) project with an offshore framework, and now we have transformed to do a Web3 project under the policy framework of Hong Kong." In Liu Hao Yu's opinion, the most important point of Hong Kong Web3 policy is to tell you the certainty, what is compliant as well as what is not.
Moons (Chinese name: 李梦思) was previously an employee of a virtual currency exchange and resigned and now works as a Web3 investment research organization in Hong Kong.
"I'm actually not trying to get too far away from the mainland, because Hong Kong itself is a free trade port, and it also happens to have the window of virtual currency opening here now." Li Mengsi said to the meta-universe NEWS reporter, after the new policy in Hong Kong came out, he wanted to find experienced friends around him to do Web3 funds together.
"I think the entrepreneurial environment in Hong Kong is still pretty good now, like Cyberport has an incubation program, Science Park has a replication program, and if you go through their application, you can get some subsidies and then have some free offices."
However, in Monsieur Lee's opinion, a group of Web3 Chinese forces from the mainland who moved overseas have not yet returned to Hong Kong.
"They just came to Hong Kong for a turn at the Web3 conference in April this year and did not set up an office in Hong Kong to put down roots again." Li Mengsi believes that these people are still in a wait-and-see situation, one needs to see the determination of the HKSAR government to develop Web3 and whether Web3 can bring them tangible benefits.
Gillian Wu (Chinese: 吴雪静) has been in Hong Kong for more than 10 years, previously a capital manager of a virtual asset exchange, and is now starting a Web3 insurance project in Hong Kong, with a team of more than 20 people.
"I think it's a good choice to do compliance in Hong Kong, and the regulation is more open." Wu Xuejing told reporters that in Hong Kong, in addition to labor costs and living costs are relatively high, other aspects or very convenient; Hong Kong market talent is good to recruit, but the local technical talent is very difficult to recruit, the technical team is mainly in India.
Li Mengsi also has the same feeling, among the Web3 startup teams she contacted, many of the teams' technologies are not local in Hong Kong, but placed in Mainland China, Thailand, India, etc.
This problem has now been noticed by the Hong Kong authorities.
On June 20, the Information Research Group of the Legislative Council Secretariat of the Hong Kong SAR released "The Development of Web3 Technologies in Selected Places," a document on the recent development of Web3 in Hong Kong mentions that comments were received urging the government to develop a blueprint for promoting the overall development of Web3 and focus on nurturing talents and startups; in addition, it was also suggested that the government should be instructed, through the newly established Hong Kong Investment Management Co. In addition, it was suggested that the government should be directed to make strategic investments related to Web3 technology collaboration through the newly established Hong Kong Investment Management Limited; and actively explore various Web3 technologies, such as blockchain-based applications (including DeFi and smart contracts), as Web3 has a wide range of application potential in other areas besides virtual assets.
