While OSL and HashKey have obtained Type-7 licenses to operate exchanges hosting digital assets, many of the city’s biggest crypto marketplaces have exited for Singapore, Dubai, or other offshore centers. Crypto.com, FTX, Diginex (now Eqonex), BitMEX, Huobi and OKEx had at one point a Hong Kong domicile.

Other businesses have gone straight to Singapore seeking to operate under its Payments Securities Act, including Coinbase, Binance and Gemini. Singapore has already granted licenses to DBS, Independent Reserve, and FOMO Pay.