Hong Kong’s commitment to becoming a hub for virtual assets is unwavering as it earmarks $6.4 million (HK$50 million) towards developing its Web3 ecosystem. The 2023-2024 budget, released on Wednesday, reveals the funds will be utilized to organize major international seminars, cross-sectoral business co-operation, and workshops for young people.
In addition, Hong Kong’s financial secretary, Paul Chan, revealed the formation of a task force dedicated to the development of virtual assets, composed of members from policy bureaux, regulatory bodies, and industry.
The task force will explore how to develop virtual assets in a safe, innovative and sound manner, so that Hong Kong’s fintech sector can continue to thrive in a sustainable manner
Paul Chan, Hong Kong’s financial secretary.
This comes on the heels of the Securities and Futures Commission’s proposed rules for virtual asset platforms released on Monday.
Hong Kong’s chief executive, John Lee, also announced the creation of the Hong Kong Investment Corporation Limited, a new investment company aimed at attracting non-local businesses to Hong Kong. The government has set aside $3.8 billion (HK$30 billion) for a co-investment fund to support this effort.
The disputed territory of China is keen on being a leader in the Web3 space and is aggressively pursuing this agenda. During Hong Kong FinTech Week last November, the city’s ambitions to be a virtual asset hub were further reinforced.
“As a leading international financial center, Hong Kong has many advantages in developing virtual assets,” Chan added. “We are confident that with the concerted efforts of the government, the industry, and academia, we can create a diversified and dynamic Web3 ecosystem in Hong Kong.”
Statistics in a recent research on Web3 development indicate a rise in the current level of activity among Web3 developers. The statistics showed that smart contract settlements were consistently at an all-time high and that more people were using Web3 script libraries, indicating that developers were still quite active despite the market’s decline.
2022 saw over 36% of smart contracts deployed and verified on the blockchain, totaling 118,000 individually compared to an all-time total of 323,700 smart contract deployments. This suggested that 2022 could be the biggest year yet for Web3 developers.