The Fintech Association of Hong Kong (FAHK) regularly organizes Blockchain meetups in Hong Kong to drive the growth of the community in one of the most important financial hubs. In the following my notes and impressions from the recent meetup (Feb 2019):

1. Hong Kong Blockchain Ecosystem Map

FAHK’s Blockchain ecosystem map

In order to give a general overview of the Blockchain space in Hong Kong the FAHK created a map (for download) of companies that are active in the space.

FAHK also surveyed companies about their sentiment towards Blockchain and the crypto market. One result from this survey is that companies in Hong Kong currently see three main challenges for Blockchain: Legal regulation, Blockchain adoption, and technological development.

2. Panel Discussion with Liquefy, Ledger, Pundi X

FAHK invited the three companies Liquefy, Ledger and Pundi X to find out about the progress of Blockchain and the way forward for Hong Kong.

Liquefy is building a platform to bring traditional securities onto the Blockchain.

Ledger is famous for its crypto-currency hardware wallet and vault. The company is currently diversifying its business in other blockchain-related areas, one being blockchain-enabled chip technology for IoT and healthcare.

Pundi X builds Point-of-Sales solutions that enable merchants to accept crypto-currency payments. New users can also directly purchase crypto-currencies through their solutions.

Key take-aways from the discussion:

Interest from institutional investors in crypto as an asset class is rising after a long time of PoC trials

Companies in Japan and Korea focus strongly on building crypto exchanges while they have encountered stricter regulations in 2018

In Hong Kong and Singapore companies primarily focus on building crypto market systems used for security token offerings (STOs)

Although it is easy to get a license to start a Blockchain business in Singapore, STOs are highly regulated. For instance, there is a minimum investment requirement of 200K per investor, whereas in Hong Kong there is no such requirement.

Pundi XPOS point of sale card reader that accepts crypto currencies

To sum up my first impressions, the Blockchain space in HK focuses strongly on financial use-cases, one being STOs. This might not be suprising given the city’s role as financial hub in Asia. For such use-cases, government regulations play a significant factor in the decision on where to set up a business.

A pleasent suprise in the highly digital world of Blockchain is the physical Pundi XPOS card reader. The reader makes the intangible tangible and by doing so helps to better understand what the technology can be used for: e.g for owning your own credit card history.

Thus, building physical Blockchain-enabled objects might be a great way to foster adoption and interest in the technology.

Looking forward to continue my learnings on Blockchain with the next meetup.