Hong Kong’s SFC Strengthens Crypto Oversight: Here’s What’s Changing

Hong Kong’s financial regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), is set to promote its cryptocurrency regulatory workforce in the upcoming fiscal year.

In a newly released budget proposal for 2025-26, the SFC outlined plans to introduce 15 additional positions, eight of which will specifically focus on the regulation of virtual assets.

According to a statement from the budget plan, the new roles aim to enhance the commission’s ability to oversee market activity, conduct enforcement investigations, and ensure compliance within the crypto sector.

Notably, the proposal comes as Hong Kong seeks to position itself as a leading hub for cryptocurrency and digital asset innovation. The SFC stated that these additional resources would improve market surveillance and help address challenges in licensing and supervision.

Currently, the SFC has been relying on staff experienced in traditional financial regulation to oversee virtual asset activities, but the increasing complexity of the crypto market has highlighted the need for dedicated expertise.

Increased Budget and Staffing Plans

The SFC’s fiscal year 2025-26 budget anticipates an overall expenditure of HK$2.59 billion (approximately $332.4 million), marking a 7.2% increase from the previous year’s forecast.

This rise is largely attributed to higher personnel costs, with an average salary increase of around 2.1% and the creation of new positions. These budgetary adjustments reflect the growing importance of virtual asset regulation within the commission’s broader mandate.

In addition to the proposed hires, the SFC has acknowledged that its current capacity for oversight has been strained. For instance, it managed to conduct on-site inspections of only about 200 licensed entities in 2023, falling short of the intended target of 300.

The regulator’s expansion plans are intended to address these gaps, ensuring more strong supervision and more frequent inspections of licensed crypto firms operating in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Continues Crypto Oversight

Asides the latest staffing and budget plans, the Hong Kong’s SFC has made major developments prior to also improve its oversight on the cryptocurrency market in the region.

For instance, recently, the agency was able to uncover more than a dozen of scam platforms falsely claiming to be affiliated with HashKey, a licensed cryptocurrency trading platform in Hong Kong. Haskey particular wrote in a statement:

To mislead clients, fraudulent websites will appear under different domain names or with slight modifications or variations of the official HashKey Exchange website address www.hashkey.com by adding a combination of letters, numbers or symbols. HashKey Exchange declares that it has no connection with the aforementioned fraudulent websites. The websites are not affiliated with HashKey Exchange or its affiliates whatsoever. As such, we will not accept liability for any matters relating to the websites.

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