{"id":61108,"date":"2026-02-02T09:22:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T02:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/hong-kong-is-positioning-itself-as-cryptos-global-connector-says-lawmaker-johnny-ng\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T09:22:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T02:22:34","slug":"hong-kong-is-positioning-itself-as-cryptos-global-connector-says-lawmaker-johnny-ng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/vi\/hong-kong-is-positioning-itself-as-cryptos-global-connector-says-lawmaker-johnny-ng\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong is positioning itself as crypto\u2019s global connector, says lawmaker Johnny Ng"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Hong Kong lawmaker and Web3 advocate said common law, open capital flows and ties to southern China give the city a unique role in global crypto markets.<\/h2>\n

Feb 1, 2026, 7:00 p.m. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Johnny Ng is not interested in zero-sum crypto politics.<\/p>\n

As regulators in Washington, Beijing and elsewhere in Asia chart their own paths for digital assets, the Hong Kong legislator is focused on something else entirely: building connective tissue between markets, technologies, and jurisdictions that rarely move in sync.<\/p>\n

Representing the technology sector in Hong Kong\u2019s Legislative Council \u2013 the city’s parliament \u2013 Ng, who will be speaking at CoinDesk’s Consensus Hong Kong conference<\/a> next month, has emerged as one of the city\u2019s most vocal advocates for Web3 and digital assets.<\/p>\n

Over the past two years, he has pushed through stablecoin legislation, backed crypto exchange licensing and helped position Hong Kong as an early mover in regulated crypto finance. But he said his broader ambition is structural. He sees Hong Kong as a bridge, not a battleground, between East and West, and between traditional finance and crypto-native innovation.<\/p>\n

\u201cCrypto and Web3 are really highly linked with the traditional financial system,\u201d Ng said in an interview with CoinDesk at his legislative office in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

Hong Kong\u2019s role, in his view, starts with its existing strengths: easily understood common law, English language courts, free capital flows, and a dense concentration of global banks, asset managers, lawyers, and auditors.<\/p>\n

\u201cHong Kong is one of the largest international finance centers,\u201d he said, arguing that this foundation allows the city to build a crypto hub that is \u201csafe, secure and moving along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

That positioning becomes more powerful when viewed through the lens of the Greater Bay Area, an initiative by the government of Hong Kong to increase trade among it, major hubs in neighboring Shenzhen and Macau \u2013 the other Special Administrative Region of China, he said.<\/p>\n

While Shenzhen is best known as the workshop of the world, with factories that churn out the latest electronics, Ng repeatedly returned to the idea that Hong Kong does not need to replicate Shenzhen or Guangzhou\u2019s engineering culture. It needs to connect to it.<\/p>\n

Hong Kong brings Common Law and open capital markets. Mainland cities bring scale, manufacturing depth, and a young, technically skilled workforce.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Shenzhen, the average age of the people is really young, under 30,\u201d Ng said, describing a city of engineers and technologists with the capacity to turn ideas into products.<\/p>\n

\u201cHong Kong can be a bridge,\u201d he said, explaining how capital, legal structure and global market access can link up with mainland innovation. \u201cWe can think something, and then we realize something by their human capital.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ng even points to crypto history to make the case. Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin was frequently in Zhuhai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong during the early years of the Ethereum blockchain. The region, Ng argues, has long been fertile ground for protocol-level experimentation. What Hong Kong adds is regulatory clarity and financial credibility.<\/p>\n

That bridge-building mindset also shapes Ng\u2019s global outlook. In 2023, during a period of aggressive enforcement actions against crypto companies by U.S. regulators, Ng made international headlines by publicly inviting Coinbase and other exchanges to consider Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

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I hereby offer an invitation to welcome all global virtual asset trading operators including @coinbase<\/a> to come to HK for application of official trading platforms and further development plans. Please feel free to approach me and I am happy to provide any assistance. pic.twitter.com\/bcIi1IjMlc<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Johnny Ng \u5434\u6770\u5e84 (@Johnny_nkc) June 10, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

At the time, the move was widely read as competitive signaling. Ng now frames it differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to see the competition with any countries,\u201d he said. \u201cCrypto cannot be easily divided by country or economy. It is one world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than rivalry, Ng argued that the industry needs regulatory coordination and predictability across jurisdictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want the Hong Kong government to make more connections with different jurisdictions, the governing bodies together,\u201d he said, pointing to the need for clearer standards that allow crypto to link more directly with real-world economic activity.<\/p>\n

It’s a new year, and the Legislative Council of Hong Kong is beginning another session, reconvening after the fall election<\/a>. Looking ahead, Ng said the next phase is about plumbing. Custody and OTC regulations are coming this year, along with potential changes that could allow higher-volume trading for professional investors.<\/p>\n

Ng also sees convergence coming from another direction: artificial intelligence. Hong Kong, he argued, occupies a unique position, able to work with both Western and Chinese datasets and be a place where AI companies from around the world work together.<\/p>\n

For Ng, Hong Kong\u2019s bet is not that it can outbuild or outmuscle other crypto or AI hubs. It is that, by staying open, regulated and connected, it can sit at the center of a system that is still very much under construction.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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