Hong Kong Announces World’s First Crypto Green Bond

While the crypto industry is currently undergoing regulatory scrutiny from the US government, some regions, such as Hong Kong, have shown continued interest in the underlying potential of blockchain technology.

Related reading: Hong Kong to limit retail investors’ crypto trading to only ‘highly liquid’ assets

Earlier today, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government of the People’s Republic of China announced the successful sale of the world’s first tokenized green bond ever.

Hong Kong becomes the world’s first tokenized green bond issuer

Hong Kong has shown interest in the potential of blockchain. According to the latest report, the Hong Kong government was able to sell approximately HK$800 million worth approximately US$102 million of tokenized green bonds with a yield of 4.05%.

Hong Kong’s Finance Minister Paul Chan praised the country’s digital economy’s recent achievements, saying:

The successful issuance of this tokenized green bond marks an important milestone as it demonstrates Hong Kong’s strength in combining the bond market, green and sustainable finance and fintech.

Goldman Sachs GS DAP, a blockchain tokenization platform, was responsible for the execution of the tokenized green bond sale as it was leveraged to represent the banking giant’s efforts to help digitize capital markets and increase efficiency across debt issuance.

Hong Kong’s position in the crypto industry

The cryptocurrency market has grown in recent years. All over the world, governments and the private sector found ways to deal with the emerging industry. The US, for example, seems more concerned with enforcing regulation of crypto than adopting it.

On the other hand, the Hong Kong region has remained in the adoption field despite the hostile attitude of China’s central government. During the bear market turmoil of last year, Hong Kong held its own as the region aims to be a crypto hub.

Before that, the region revealed its plan to allow retail investors to trade with digital assets. Unlike China, Hong Kong intends to change its approach to regulating the nascent sector instead of enforcing a “blanket ban.”

Elizabeth Wong, who heads the fintech unit at Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), confirmed that the country would introduce its bill to regulate digital assets in a “much more independent and liberal way”.

In December, Hong Kong drafted new legislation targeting crypto exchange service providers. In particular, the bill requires crypto exchange service providers to follow the same rules as traditional financial organizations.

While the region has continued to thrive to become a crypto hub, some parts have already adopted crypto. In July last year, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology announced to construction of the world’s first physical digital twin school building in Metaverse.

Months later, the Central Bank of Hong Kong assessed the potential for digital assets to impact legacy financial markets. Meanwhile, the crypto market has rallied over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin breached the $25,000 mark for the first time in months, up 9% in the past 24 hours.

Altcoins such as Ethereum also followed suit, rallying to new highs. ETH is currently up 8.4% in the last 24 hours after crossing the $1700 mark and targeting the $1800 region.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView.