On July 1, 2025, Hong Kong will celebrate its 28th anniversary of its return to China. From the Pearl of the Orient to an international financial center, this city has always been at the forefront of global institutional convergence and capital flows. Today, Hong Kong is setting off again: using Web3 as the underlying technology paradigm, digital assets as the financial core, and redefining the connotation of " financial center " with a global vision and policy advantages .

When we talk about "Hong Kong's Web3 path", it has never been just an industrial upgrade, but an extension of the national strategy of "leading high-quality development with technological innovation" and a historic leap in the deep integration of scientific and technological revolution and financial civilization.

From the establishment of a financial free port, to the release of the Virtual Asset Policy Declaration in 2022, and then to the release of the "Hong Kong Digital Asset Development Policy Declaration 2.0" (Policy Declaration 2.0) in 2025 - this city has always responded to industry uncertainty with policy certainty.

Policy Declaration 2.0 is not just about "strengthening supervision", but also an institutional upgrade centered around the "LEAP" strategic framework: LEAP refers to the four key dimensions of Legal (legal compliance), Expanding (asset tokenization expansion), Advancing (application scenario expansion) and People (talent development), reflecting Hong Kong's comprehensive layout and long-term planning in the field of digital assets.

• Clarify the regulation of stablecoins, and formally implement the stablecoin licensing system on August 1, 2025, setting a global leading precedent;

• RWA tokenization has been identified as a key industry to promote the regular issuance of bonds, and plans to include gold, green energy, and electric vehicle assets in the scope of tokenization;

• Tokenized ETFs and digital asset funds enjoy stamp duty and profit tax exemptions, further enhancing tax competitiveness;

• The number of digital asset trading platform licenses has increased to 11, and derivatives and leveraged financing channels have been gradually liberalized;

• To promote talent development, Cyberport Innovation Fund and universities jointly establish a Web3 talent ecosystem.

Behind all this is a high degree of confidence in the compatibility and openness of Hong Kong's financial system, and a strategic choice to use Hong Kong as a "bridgehead" in the international financial game.

Technology habitat, capital gateway, new frontier of trust

The development of Web3 is not only a technological change, but also a fundamental reshaping of the efficiency and trust paradigm. In an era when the world is full of anxiety and expectations for the next generation of financial infrastructure, Hong Kong has chosen a path that is both pragmatic and far-sighted: neither blindly following the trend nor standing still.

The so-called "technological habitat" refers not only to the fact that underlying technologies such as blockchain can be tested in Hong Kong, but also to the joint empowerment of regulatory systems and financial scenarios, so that it can truly step out of the ivory tower of "code" and "white paper". Today, mechanisms such as on-chain asset issuance, on-chain clearing, and on-chain identity authentication have blossomed in Hong Kong and become real public products rather than isolated technical demonstrations.

The “capital access” not only means that Hong Kong continues to play its role as the liquidity hub of offshore RMB and global capital markets, but also that it can connect the “non-interconnected” systems between traditional finance and Web3. A head of a family office once commented: “In Hong Kong, digital assets can finally be combined and allocated like funds and bonds.”

As for the "new boundary of trust", this is not an abstract concept, but a reality that is being jointly constructed by law, technology and institutions. The immutability of on-chain transaction records, the verifiability of audit mechanisms, and the coordinated promotion of KYC and AML frameworks have rebuilt a trust system for Web3 that can be recognized by institutions. To some extent, Hong Kong has turned "compliance" from a constraint to an accelerator.

In this innovative practice, a number of leading companies represented by HashKey have emerged in Hong Kong, actively participating in and leading industrial transformation. Recently, HashKey, together with traditional financial institution GF Securities, launched Hong Kong's first on-chain securities product GF Token, with a first-day trading volume exceeding HK$200 million. The Omnibus comprehensive account service launched by its licensed virtual asset exchange HashKey Exchange covers 90% of Hong Kong's licensed securities firms, greatly lowering the threshold for institutional participation.

The “Hong Kong Question” in the New Global Order

Against the backdrop of the renewed game between the U.S. dollar system and technology capital, China urgently needs a new financial space that can connect global resources, promote the evolution of digital asset systems, and undertake pilot missions. Hong Kong is standing firmly at the intersection of this global reshaping.

The introduction of Web3 policy is not accidental, but the inevitable result of the times. It is supported by profound economic and technical logic:

• Although the capital market has not yet migrated to the chain on a large scale, the efficiency of on-chain asset circulation has been significantly improved. For example, the on-chain settlement time has been shortened from the traditional T+2 to seconds, and the transaction cost has been reduced by more than 80%;

• The global fiat currency system continues to be under pressure, and the average number of interest rate hikes by major central banks around the world in 2024 will reach the highest level in recent years, further promoting the institutionalization demand for stablecoins as "technical currencies";

• The integration of artificial intelligence and blockchain is profoundly changing the underlying structure of finance. On-chain credit, on-chain identity and on-chain transaction logic have built a new trust framework.

• The financial cognitive structure of the younger generation has changed, and trust has begun to shift from licensing institutions to on-chain consensus mechanisms, driving the rapid growth of a new financial system.

Against this backdrop, the policy innovation space provided by Hong Kong, which has accumulated a foundation of trust as an international financial center and uses Web3 Policy 2.0 as an engine, is accelerating its transformation into a global digital asset hub.

Hong Kong’s role is no longer just a “regulatory test field”, but a gathering place for global Web3 strategic resources, a two-way channel connecting traditional finance and decentralized finance (DeFi) in Asia, and an institutional coordinate for the compliance implementation of RWA and stablecoins.

It can be said that in an era of continuous improvement in on-chain efficiency and the advent of the institutionalization of digital assets, Hong Kong should and will inevitably play a leading role in the new global financial order.

Conclusion | The times have chosen Hong Kong, and Hong Kong has chosen Web3

2025 is a critical node for Hong Kong to start anew with digital sovereignty and institutional innovation. Web3 is not only a technological innovation, but also a strategic anchor that Hong Kong has proactively found in the reconstruction of global governance, financial competition, and technological paradigms. We are witnessing a new decade of digital economy that belongs to Hong Kong, China, and even the world.