Proof-of-Strategy: Consensus debut showcases Hong Kong’s bet on FinTech is paying off
March 7, 2025
It has been an eventful period for Hong Kong and mainland China. Consensus wrapped up its successful debut in Hong Kong two weeks ago, bringing together nearly 10,000 Web3 decision-makers, industry players, and enthusiasts from across the globe. During the same week in mainland China, President Xi Jinping had a meeting with the big tech leaders, in an iconic move what market watchers call “the end of regulatory crackdown on the tech sector.”
I remember my first Consensus. It was 2018, Bitcoin had just hit a then all-time high of $20,000, ICOs were booming and so did the conference. More than 8,400 people (a then record) packed into the New York Hilton Midtown in Manhattan, and the conference spilled over outside to New York’s hottest bars and restaurants that were booked out for Consensus’ side events.
Seven years and a pandemic later, an event with an even larger crowd sold out the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre halls and overflowed to the city with over 350 registered side events. Over 450 media registered to report on the event and hear from over 300 speakers from the Hong Kong government, regulators and the biggest brands in Web3. [Cognito was Consensus Hong Kong 2025’s official PR partner.]
To set the scene, Bitcoin had set new records hovering around $100,000 and crypto enthusiasts – from both the TradFi and DeFi worlds – were showing their renewed energy with the crypto-forward promises of a new US administration. Some of Hong Kong’s most famous restaurants, bars and landmarks, like the Happy Valley Racecourse, were booked out and the city was abuzz in a way it has not experienced since pre-Covid-19.
As someone who was born and raised in Hong Kong, I was proud to see this comeback. Many-a-time was the phrase “Hong Kong is back” heard during the week. Through Consensus, Hong Kong showed the world again the critical role it plays on the world stage as a leading financial centre and gateway to mainland China. The city has a complete set of hardware and software to host the “Superbowl of blockchain.”
The data speaks for itself. From a tourism perspective, 75% of the approximately 10,000 attendees were from outside Hong Kong, fuelling the economy with an estimated HK$275m-worth of impact. The event garnered the attention of Hong Kong’s government with three Legco members publicly attending a media tour onsite at the Consensus event. The SAR’s Financial Secretary, Paul Chan, described Consensus in the official budget announcement as “a manifestation of global confidence in Hong Kong’s vibrant development in this area.”
Hong Kong’s timely policy reversal
Hong Kong may be a Web3 hub now – but the journey to get here wasn’t straightforward. The four-year period before 2022 was a very different time: digital asset trading activity was restricted to only professional investors and there was only one licensed digital asset exchange in the city.
Jonathan Crompton, regulatory and disputes partner at law firm RPC told the AFP, “The SFC (local regulator Securities and Futures Commission) has been stuck between a rock and hard place. People have complained that, on one hand, it’s not quick enough to introduce a regulatory regime, and on the other hand, they have not provided enough protection.”
Hong Kong’s regulators hinted at the 2022 Hong Kong Fintech week that they would lift a ban on the retail trading of cryptocurrencies. Following the implosion of the FTX exchange, bankruptcies of the lending unit of broker Genesis Digital and the Singapore hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, the timing of this announcement could not have been more favourable for the city to justify their need for a stringent and trustworthy regulatory regime.
The regulators’ Hong Kong Fintech Week announcement was also a prelude to the city’s broader intention to become a hub for digital assets, but on Hong Kong’s terms, using the “same business, same risks, same rules” principle. This means that all existing TradFi investor protection guardrails are applied to virtual asset-related activities – i.e. a crypto exchange would have to comply with the same standard of rules complied by the likes of JP Morgan, HSBC, and Standard Chartered.
Since then, Hong Kong has been spearheading the development of crypto regulation with a few regulatory milestones: licensing digital asset exchanges, (currently counting 10 licensed ‘Virtual Asset Trading Platforms’) regulatory statements on tokenization, pioneering virtual asset spot ETFs framework, a Central Bank Digital Currency pilot, a legislative bill for licensing stablecoins, and now a 12-step framework outlining the regulator’s roadmap.
One country, two systems?
In essence, these policies and the direction Hong Kong is seemingly headed highlights the “one country, two systems” principle with mainland China.
“Hong Kong is very important,” Yifan He, CEO at Red Date Technology, the company behindChina’s state-backed blockchain project Blockchain Service Network, said toCNBC at Consensus. “[By] being in the Web3 space, [Hong Kong] is basically bridging China and the world.” He also predicted in the same interview that there will be “over 50% chance [that] China will legalize crypto trading.”
In mainland China, just days before Consensus took place, President Xi Jinping met with China’s most influential tycoons, including Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group. Market watchers from Morgan Stanley and UBS called this “the end of regulatory crackdown on the tech sector,” as Hong Kong’s stock market rallied and tech shares led gains.
The opening of China’s annual Two Sessions meeting also reinforced the optimism amongst China’s top leaders in bolstering business confidence and supporting Hong Kong and Macau to improve their economies.
We have a saying in Chinese: “The timing of heaven, the advantage of geography and the harmony of man” are the keys to success. Momentum is building in the region, and Hong Kong is showing the world that it has the ingredients – capital, innovation and culture – that are quintessentially linked to business success in both the TradFi and DeFi worlds.
With assistance by Jonathan Crompton (RPC) and Karen Lee (Cognito).
