Hong Kong to link local crypto order books with overseas affiliates

Hong Kong's securities regulator announced on Monday at FinTech Week 2025 that it will allow locally licensed virtual asset trading platforms to link their order books with overseas affiliates, a move designed to open the city's crypto markets to global liquidity and deepen trading activity. The Securities and Futures Commission said the policy change replaces the previous ringfenced model that limited trading to domestic users and represents the most significant relaxation of crypto trading rules since the territory launched its multi-year push to develop a regulated digital asset sector.

The SFC said the new framework permits shared order books and cross-border matching, enabling local clients to be matched with orders from foreign affiliates and international liquidity pools. Officials expect the arrangement to improve price discovery, tighten bid-ask spreads, and make execution more competitive for both retail and institutional participants. The regulator described the change as part of a broader roadmap to align digital asset markets more closely with traditional market principles while preserving investor safeguards.

Under the package of measures announced at the...