Australian cryptocurrency exchange Independent Reserve plans to look more closely at opportunities in Hong Kong as the city pursues a regulatory revamp to create a hub for digital-asset businesses.
The company will be visiting Hong Kong shortly to “learn more about the upcoming regulations and really look more closely at that as a potential base for another office in Asia,” Adrian Przelozny, chief executive of Independent Reserve, said in an interview Wednesday.
A growing number of firms are examining Hong Kong’s efforts to establish a center for virtual assets, a drive that stands in stark contrast to a crackdown on the sector in the US. Crypto market data provider Kaiko said last week that it plans to relocate its Asian headquarters to Hong Kong from Singapore.
Sydney-based Independent Reserve has just officially launched a new platform, Bitcoin.com.au, after purchasing the domain name in a A$3 million (US$2 million) deal last year. The company also operates as a licensed virtual-asset service provider in Singapore, which remains a “very high priority,” Przelozny said.