Hong Kong’s recent willingness to open its doors to crypto firms has resulted in banks from mainland China reaching out to them for potential business. This is despite mainland China’s blanket ban on crypto trading and mining.
According to a Bloomberg report, China’s state banks have been reaching out to crypto businesses in the last few months as Hong Kong positions itself to become a crypto hub once again.
In particular, Hong Kong-based offices of Bank of Communications Co., Bank of China Ltd. and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank have ‘either started offering banking services to local crypto firms or have made inquiries to the field.’ In one instance, sales representatives from one bank have pitched services to a crypto company by physically visiting their offices.
Sung Min Cho, founder and chief executive of Beoble, a provider of a messaging system for decentralized applications, explained:
[This] means a lot to us because it’s something you’d never expect at this point, even around the globe. A cryptocurrency account at a tradfi bank is something groundbreaking.
Beijing Has Reportedly Approved the Push into Crypto
In addition, according to a top executive at a major Chinese bank who wished not to be named, the apparent crypto push in Hong Kong has the approval of Beijing. Officials from mainland China have also been visiting Hong Kong, mingling with attendees of crypto events and exchanging contact details.
Therefore, a loose conclusion can be made that the long-held ‘one country, two systems’ is still being applied with crypto between mainland China and Hong Kong. Only time will tell whether it is the beginning of a broader acceptance of crypto by China’s government.
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