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Hong Kong is looking to add Bitcoin to its federal reserves, according to a local legislator.
Following Donald Trump's keynote speech at Bitcoin 2024 over the weekend, in which he discussed a potential plan for a US Bitcoin reserve, Hong Kong politician Johnny Ng tweeted that the region might do the same.
During Trump's speech, the former President pledged to create a “strategic national Bitcoin stockpile” if he is elected in November.
"Regarding Bitcoin becoming an official financial reserve for a country or region, I think this is worth considering," Ng said.
"The global acceptance of Bitcoin is constantly increasing, and Bitcoin is seen by the public as "digital gold" in the context of its technology, so in the future, it is indeed possible to research and consider including Bitcoin in strategic financial reserves, as long as it is compliant."
Ng encouraged local lawmakers to attract more crypto businesses to boost the development of the industry.
"I will discuss the feasibility and opportunities of including Bitcoin in financial reserves with different stakeholders in Hong Kong, and will report the situation to everyone in a timely manner," Ng concluded.
Hong Kong has been making strides in developing its Web3 industry. In May, Hong Kong took a leaf from the US' book by launching its very own crypto ETFs a few months ago. However, like many of the city's efforts, this too fell flat.
Unable to mirror the success of its American peers, Hong Kong's crypto ETFs reeled in just $12 million in trading volume, and inflows paled in comparison to the US market's $4.6 billion first day of Bitcoin ETFs. Worse still, just weeks later, these minute gains were rapidly wiped out.
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Nonetheless, Hong Kong has powered on. Last month, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced five new participants of its stablecoin sandbox including Standard Chartered (Hong Kong) and Animoca Brands.
The other three entities are Jingdong Coinlink Technology Hong Kong, RD InnoTech, and Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT).
"During the assessment process, these institutions were able to demonstrate genuine interest in developing a stablecoin issuance business in Hong Kong with a reasonable business plan, and that their proposed operations under the sandbox arrangement would be conducted within a limited scope and in a risk-controllable manner," the announcement stated.
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