Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission's latest guidelines: opening virtual asset collateralized financing, first-ever perpetual contract framework, allowing affiliated companies to provide market-making

Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) Releases New Guidelines Today (2/11), Allowing Licensed Virtual Asset Brokers to Expand into Margin Financing Services, and Establishes a High-Level Regulatory Framework for Perpetual Contracts for the First Time, While Opening Related Companies of Licensed Trading Platforms to Act as Market Makers.
(Background: Gamma Prime to Host Tokenized Capital Summit in Hong Kong on February 9, Showcasing RWA Global Private Market)
(Additional Context: Hang Seng Physical Gold ETF Listed on Thursday, Adding a Case of Gold Asset Tokenization in Hong Kong)

Table of Contents

• First-Time Establishment of a Perpetual Contract Framework, Restricted to Professional Investors
• Related Companies Allowed to Act as Market Makers
• SFC Senior Officials: Steady and Step-by-Step Development

According to CoinDesk, the SFC now permits licensed brokers providing virtual asset trading services (virtual asset brokers) to offer virtual asset financing services to their securities margin clients.

Conditions include:

• Clients must have solid creditworthiness and sufficient collateral
• Collateral can include both securities and virtual assets
• Initially, eligible virtual asset collateral is limited to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH)
• Robust investor protection measures must be in place

The SFC states that this move will encourage margin clients with strong credit and collateral to participate more actively in virtual asset trading, increasing market liquidity in Hong Kong within a risk-controlled framework.

First-Time Establishment of a Perpetual Contract Framework, Restricted to Professional Investors

This is the first time the SFC has developed a high-level regulatory framework for licensed virtual asset trading platforms offering perpetual contracts. Perpetual contracts are leveraged products with a high trading volume in the global crypto market, but have previously been absent from Hong Kong’s regulated markets.

Key points of the framework include:

• Participation limited to professional investors; retail investors are not yet permitted
• Initially covering only Bitcoin and Ether-related contracts
• Requiring highly transparent product design, clear risk disclosures, and sound operational oversight
• Platforms must have systems capable of handling extreme volatility and liquidation events

The SFC emphasizes that opening perpetual contracts aims to assist investors in implementing risk management strategies and to enhance liquidity in the spot markets for related assets, rather than encouraging speculation.

Related Companies Allowed to Act as Market Makers

To further promote virtual asset trading activities in Hong Kong, the SFC permits related companies of licensed virtual asset trading platforms to act as market makers, providing additional liquidity channels.

However, this is contingent upon strong safeguards to reduce conflicts of interest, including:

• Market-making units must operate independently
• Establishment of comprehensive internal control mechanisms
• Continuous monitoring of trading activities

SFC Senior Officials: Steady and Step-by-Step Development

Dr. Ye Zhi-heng, Executive Director of the SFC’s Intermediaries Division, stated:

Our authority follows a steady development approach in line with the ASPIRe roadmap, which is crucial for the scalable growth of Hong Kong’s digital asset market. These targeted measures aim to enhance market liquidity and demonstrate the SFC’s firm commitment to developing Hong Kong’s digital asset market in a sustainable and collaborative manner.

SFC CEO Julia Leung also publicly announced these measures today at the CoinDesk Consensus Hong Kong 2026 conference, emphasizing Hong Kong’s efforts to build a comprehensive virtual asset ecosystem. It is understood that licenses related to stablecoins are expected to be issued in March this year.

The SFC stated it will continue to closely monitor the implementation of these measures and maintain communication with industry stakeholders to ensure these initiatives foster a safe and competitive market environment in Hong Kong.