Hong Kong’s Leap Into Crypto Gets a New Push: Andy Mukherjee

If the choice of acronym is a signal of intent, then Hong Kong is set to make a splash in the world of cryptocurrencies. After all, the framework it adopted in June is called “Leap,” and Chief Executive John Lee’s policy address Wednesday gave a good indication of its landing point: a financial center for institutions, wealthy family offices, and the wider public to safely store and trade virtual assets.

The “L” in Leap stands for legal streamlining. Hong Kong has been chipping away at it since 2018, though the process picked up momentum three years ago. Around the same time that Singapore was retreating from its retail crypto ...