Hong Kong to table crypto licensing bill by end-2026, covering dealing, custody, advisory and asset management

Hong Kong will introduce legislation to license four more crypto activities before the end of 2026, Financial Services and the Treasury Secretary Christopher Hui said on Monday. The amendment bill would cover dealing, custody, advisory and asset management, extending the city’s rules beyond trading platforms and stablecoin issuers.

Hong Kong targets four core crypto activities

The proposed Crypto licensing bill is designed to bring four major areas of virtual-asset activity under dedicated licensing regimes: dealing, custody, advisory and management services.

The initiative is not being developed from scratch. Hong Kong’s Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau and Securities and Futures Commission have already conducted consultations on the proposed rules.

In December 2025, regulators concluded consultations on virtual-asset dealing and custody regimes, while launching a further consultation covering advisory and management services. The authorities said the proposals received broad market support and would help build a more comprehensive regulatory structure for the digital-asset sector.

By May 2026, the government and SFC had published consultation conclusions for the advisory and management regimes. Those proposals are intended to follow the principle of “same business, same risks, same rules,” broadly aligning virtual-asset advisory and asset-management activities with existing securities-sector requirements.

That approach could give financial firms a clearer compliance pathway while bringing crypto-related activities closer to Hong Kong’s established financial regulatory architecture.

Bill builds on Hong Kong’s existing crypto rules

The Crypto licensing bill would add another layer to a regulatory system that is already taking shape.

Hong Kong already operates a licensing framework for virtual-asset trading platforms. The city also introduced a separate regulatory regime for fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers under its Stablecoins Ordinance, which came into effect in August 2025.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority began accepting stablecoin licence applications in August 2025. According to the HKMA, the first batch of two licensed stablecoin issuers was announced in April 2026.

This means the latest legislative push is less about creating Hong Kong’s first crypto rules and more about filling regulatory gaps across the wider digital-asset ecosystem.

The SFC has also been steadily expanding its regulatory work. Its roadmap calls for licensing regimes covering areas such as over-the-counter virtual-asset trading and custody, while regulators have separately developed requirements for intermediaries handling virtual assets.

Regulators move from consultation to legislation

The latest government statement is significant because much of the groundwork for the Crypto licensing bill has already been completed through consultations and regulatory proposals.

For virtual-asset dealers, the proposed regime would establish licensing or registration requirements for businesses providing digital-asset dealing services. The 2025 consultation indicated that both straightforward and more complex dealing services would fall within the proposed framework.

Custody is another major component. Regulators have emphasized the importance of protecting client assets and establishing standards comparable with traditional financial custody arrangements.

The advisory and management proposals, meanwhile, are designed to bring firms providing crypto investment advice or managing virtual-asset portfolios within a formal regulatory structure. The SFC has already published regulatory conditions covering virtual-asset dealing, advisory services and management of portfolios invested in virtual assets.

The SFC and FSTB have encouraged prospective advisory and management providers to engage with regulators ahead of the formal licensing process, indicating that preparation is already moving beyond policy discussions.

Hong Kong’s broader digital-asset strategy

The Crypto licensing bill also fits into Hong Kong’s broader attempt to establish itself as a regulated digital-asset hub while maintaining financial safeguards.

Rather than relying on a single set of rules for every crypto business, authorities have been developing separate frameworks for different activities. That includes trading platforms, stablecoin issuance, dealing, custody, advisory and asset management.

Hui’s latest statement effectively keeps the government’s end-2026 legislative target intact. With consultations already completed for several components, attention now shifts toward the drafting and introduction of the amendment bill in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council.

The Crypto licensing bill could therefore become an important next step in determining how crypto businesses operate in the city and which activities will require regulatory approval.

For the industry, the immediate milestone is straightforward: Hong Kong’s government says the legislation is coming before the end of 2026. The next stage will be watching the bill’s detailed provisions—and how the proposed licensing requirements translate into practical compliance obligations for digital-asset firms.

The Crypto licensing bill is consequently shaping up as a key piece of Hong Kong’s evolving digital-asset regulatory framework, extending oversight across some of the market’s most important services while regulators continue to balance financial innovation with investor and market protections.