11 crypto exchanges on the verge of getting a license to operate in Hong Kong

Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has announced that nearly a dozen crypto exchanges are close to receiving approval for their trading licenses.

As of June 1, the SFC website listed 11 candidates, including Singapore-based Crypto.com and Hong Kong-based Bullish, as “considered licensed", according to report on Bloomberg.

Last year, Hong Kong introduced new rules for digital asset exchanges, setting a June 1 deadline for exchanges to obtain a virtual asset trading platform license. Currently the SFC website Sochi , that there are two fully licensed crypto exchanges in the Special Administrative Region (SAR): HashKey Exchange and OSL Group.

Bloomberg also noted that only licensed platforms will be able to operate in Hong Kong. The SFC will issue actual authorizations to digital asset trading platforms that consistently demonstrate compliance with the regulations.

Last month, the OKX crypto exchange announced , that it has withdrawn its application for a virtual asset trading platform license and will cease operations in SAR.

In late February, HTX, a crypto exchange associated with the founder of Tron (TRX) Justine Sun, formerly known as Huobi, has announced that it has withdrawn its application for a Hong Kong digital asset trading platform license. HTX resubmitted before withdrawing it again. Another crypto exchange that has withdrawn its application for a virtual asset trading platform license in Hong Kong is Bybit.

Binance, Coinbase Global and Kraken have not applied for a license.