According to a statement released on Wednesday, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has granted a license to the Hong Kong branch of Swiss cryptocurrency bank SEBA.
“This license permits SEBA Hong Kong to conduct regulated activities in Hong Kong to deal in and distribute all securities, including virtual assets-related products,” the Zug-based bank said.
According to SEBA, the license covers the following cryptocurrency-related goods and services, “asset management for discretionary accounts in both traditional securities and virtual assets,” over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives and structured products with underlying virtual assets, and advice on virtual assets.
The license is the result of an August approval in principle.The SFC has indicated that it will permit certain tokenized securities-related operations, while Hong Kong has revised its crypto licensing rules to permit retail trading.The first cryptocurrency exchange licenses under such regime were obtained by HashKey Exchange and OSL Digital Securities.
Abu Dhabi granted SEBA, which was established in 2018, its first international license in February 2022.
“Institutional and professional investors, including corporate treasuries, funds, family offices and high-net-worth individuals, can begin availing of SEBA Hong Kong’s licensed services from today,” SEBA said.