3

November

2025

Hong Kong expands virtual asset framework to permit tokenized securities and stablecoin offerings

On November 3, 2025, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued two circulars expanding the permissible activities of licensed virtual asset trading platforms. The circulars authorize platforms, subject to prior approval and specified safeguards, to share order books with approved overseas affiliates and to expand permissible product offerings, including tokenized securities and fiat-referenced stablecoins issued by Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) licensees. The SFC imposed jurisdictional, supervisory, settlement, and risk mitigation requirements to address operational and counterparty risk and to maintain investor protection.

The November circulars follow earlier policy, legislative, and supervisory actions that established Hong Kong’s virtual asset framework. The Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) issued policy statements in 2022 and 2025 setting regulatory direction. In September 2025, the SFC and HKMA issued supplemental guidance permitting licensed intermediaries to provide staking services under defined conditions and adjusting investor protection requirements for institutional and qualified corporate professional investors.

Last Updated 11/03/2025. 


Hong Kong (Regulatory)

History:

  • Nov 3, 2025: SFC issues two circulars expanding the permissible activities of licensed virtual asset trading platforms, including authorizing order book sharing with approved overseas affiliates and broadening permissible product offerings, including tokenised securities and HKMA-licensed stablecoins. SFC Press Release.
  • Sep 30, 2025: Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and HKMA issue a Supplemental Joint Circular providing updated conduct guidance for intermediaries engaged in virtual-asset activities. SFC-HKMA Joint Circular.
  • Jun 26, 2025: The FSTB publishes its Second Policy Statement on Digital-Asset Development, launching the LEAP framework and consolidating oversight of virtual-asset service provider. FSTB Policy Statement 2.0.
  • Oct 31, 2022: The Hong Kong Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) issues its First Policy Statement on the development of virtual assets at Hong Kong FinTech Week, outlining the government’s initial regulatory roadmap. FSTB Policy Statement 1.0.
Read the Policy Statement
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Tom Momberg

+17186645458 tom.momberg@dlxlaw.com

Tom advises clients in an array of matters related to blockchain technology, decentralized finance, banking and payments systems, financial products, and financial technology applications. He joined DLx Law as an attorney after working as in-house counsel for a payments and banking software service provider, advising on various legal and regulatory matters, operations, risk, customer due diligence, and corporate best practices.

Tom received his J.D. from George Mason University Law School in Virginia and his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Tom is a former journalist, and, while in law school, he interned for DLx Law and served as a law clerk for several federal institutions in Washington, D.C., including the CFTC, FCC, and House Judiciary Committee. Tom is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and the State of Oregon.

Angela Angelovska-Wilson

+12023651448 angela@dlxlaw.com

Angela is an early distributed ledger technology adopter and a leading authority in the evolving global legal and regulatory landscape surrounding distributed ledger technology and smart contracts. Prior to co-founding DLx Law, Angela served as the Chief Legal & Compliance Officer of Digital Asset and was part of the founding team.

Prior to joining Digital Asset, Angela was a partner at Reed Smith where she regularly advised clients on the implementation of new technologies to finance and the complex regulatory schemes involved in the development, creation, marketing, sale and servicing of various financial services and products. Before Reed Smith, Angela spent most of her career in various roles at Latham & Watkins, where she was recognized by The Legal 500 US among the top finance attorneys in the U.S.

Angela has a deep understanding of the Fin-Tech industry and in particular the distributed ledger industry, having been involved in a number of startups in various roles, as an employee, entrepreneur and advisor. In addition to DLx Law, Angela is also co-founder of Sila Inc., an innovative technology company.