ZA Bank, the largest virtual financial provider in Hong Kong, wants to start conducting business in digital assets. It will give customers the ability to switch between crypto and regular cash, as well as offer them with banking services. All this is part of how the Chinese city is gearing up to accept digital currency.
Cryptocurrencies Now Embraced by Chinese Banks in Hong Kong!
Hong Kong’s first and biggest virtual bank, started by Chinese billionaire Ou Yaping, is aiming to help people who use digital currencies and traditional money in the city to do transfers. That’s according to Bloomberg News quoting a top employee at the bank.
According to Ronald Iu, the CEO of ZA Bank, they will allow people to take digital coins and swap them for money. This means that you can deposit digital coins on trading platforms and withdraw either Hong Kong/U.S. dollars or Chinese yuan (different forms of real money). Iu stated: “For the dozen companies that are interested, whether big or small (local or foreign), their largest concern is to find a way to make this entire process work”.
ZA Bank is working with two companies in Hong Kong, Hashkey and OSL, that are legally allowed to use crypto currencies. As more businesses get the same authorization from Hong Kong’s government, ZA Bank is hoping to provide services for them as well.
Right now, Hong Kong has been getting more involved with the crypto market even though it has had some trouble recently. The goal of Hong Kong is to become a place where crypto trading happens around the world and make itself a financial center again.
It looks like China is supporting cryptocurrencies in Hong Kong. A report came out in March which said that Chinese banks are ready to help crypto businesses thrive in the city. Plus, one of China’s biggest insurance agencies provided money for two new funds focused on digital money.
Officials in Hong Kong are trying to change the rules for cryptocurrency exchanges so that ordinary people can use them. They are also helping crypto companies get access to banks.
Right now, ZA Bank is only doing business with certain types of money exchanges that have permission from the government. They’re making sure to follow all the rules for this type of activity to prevent any problems like illegal money activities. Devon Sin, who works at ZA Bank told us they haven’t had any of these issues in the past few months.
A virtual bank has opened online accounts for tech companies and other businesses. About 100 of these kinds of firms were able to test it out in a special area set up by the government, according to the report.
Do you think Hong Kong will make it easier for cryptocurrency companies to use banking services? Let us know what you think in the comments below!