Hong Kong plans to submit legislation by the end of 2026 that would expand regulation of digital-asset businesses, reinforcing the city’s effort to build a broader framework for crypto-related financial services. The proposed rules would cover trading platforms, custody providers, advisers and asset managers.
Four digital-asset activities in scope
Christopher Hui, Hong Kong’s secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, said at a policy briefing on Monday that the government would submit an amendment bill “within this year.” The Hong Kong government confirmed the plan in a statement, according to reporting by Cointelegraph.
The legislation is intended to establish licensing regimes for four categories of digital-asset activity:
- Digital-asset trading
- Digital-asset custody
- Digital-asset advisory services
- Digital-asset management services
The government said the bill is being prepared in response to “innovative developments” in financial technology. A licensing regime generally requires businesses in covered sectors to obtain regulatory approval before operating, subject to the conditions set by the relevant authorities.
Plan builds on stablecoin licensing work
The proposed amendment is part of a wider crypto licensing effort rather than a standalone measure. Hui said in January that regulators intended to put forward a draft proposal on crypto-asset regulation before the end of 2026.
Separately, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority had already started processing applications from stablecoin issuers. Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to maintain a stable value, commonly by linking their value to an underlying asset or currency, although the source material does not specify the structure of the applications under review.
In April, the HKMA issued its first stablecoin issuer licences to Anchorpoint Financial and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. The earlier licensing activity provides a regulatory backdrop for the government’s planned rules covering other parts of the digital-asset industry.
Moneyiar market picture
Moneyiar data at 10:24 a.m. on October 7, 2026, showed mixed performance among the listed crypto-related assets:
- Ethereum Name Service (ENS) was $6.438839611, down 6.49% over 24 hours and 8.47% over seven days.
- Decentraland (MANA) was $0.1025989334, down 0.53% over 24 hours but up 13.31% over seven days.
- Four (FORM) was $0.2703153976, down 3.39% in 24 hours and 6.79% over seven days.
- Billions Network (BILL) was $0.0139971939, down 0.59% over 24 hours and up 10.04% over seven days. The seven-day figure was timestamped by Moneyiar at 1:39 a.m. on September 21, 2026.
The planned bill would give Hong Kong’s regulatory framework broader coverage across the digital-asset market, while the government’s reaffirmed timetable sets the end of 2026 as the deadline for submitting the amendment legislation.
