Industry insiders: High compliance costs and low local market attractiveness have led to multiple platforms withdrawing Hong Kong VASP license applications

On May 26, according to Ming Pao, the licensing transition period for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) in Hong Kong will end at the end of this month, and the Securities Supervision Commission will decide whether the existing service providers can continue to operate. Recently, a number of platforms, including OKX and VAEX, have withdrawn their license applications due to the higher compliance costs in Hong Kong and the lower attractiveness of the local market. Industry insiders believe that the liquidity and trading currencies of local platforms are not as good as those of overseas, and stricter regulatory conditions are the reasons for the platform to withdraw its license application.
At present, only two platforms have been licensed by the Securities Supervision Commission, and 18 are under application. Industry experts suggest strengthening the tokenization of virtual assets in real-world applications to improve market acceptance and practical use.