Hong Kong: Web3 and the metaverse will feature prominently in this year’s Fintech Week, according to event organizers trying to lure firms back to the country post-pandemic.
The organizers, which include Hong Kong’s Financial Services and Treasury Bureau and its investment department InvestHK, anticipate roughly 20,000 will attend this year’s event, both physically and virtually, between Oct. 31 and Nov. 4.
While these figures are comparable with the year prior, organizers are hoping that the 2,000 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) they intend to issue to participants, which will be redeemable for benefits, including discounted tickets for the following year’s event, will entice more people to attend the conference.
Hong Kong Fintech Bringing Back Firms Post Pandemic
With the focus of this year’s Fintech Week being on Web3 and the metaverse, the city government is taking the opportunity to introduce its new policy towards cryptocurrencies.
Authorities said they would use the event to broadcast its “vision of developing Hong Kong into an international virtual assets center.” For instance, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission said it would make an announcement clarifying the government’s stance on digital assets to global markets.
The prospective policy changes are also meant to draw fintech start-ups back to the special administrative region of China, many of whom had previously departed due to the city’s strict COVID-19 protocol.
Investors based in Hong Kong had also expressed concern that the lack of clarity surrounding the territory’s approach to digital assets had been impeding its efforts to become a leading cryptocurrency hub, in direct competition with regional rival Singapore.
Singapore Holds Rival Fintech Week
Already a competitor as a global financial center, Singapore is also making headway in becoming a top hotspot for cryptocurrencies. Its own Fintech Festival will directly compete with Hong Kong’s, taking place during the final days of the latter conference, between Nov. 2 and 4.
It will also overlap with Hong Kong’s Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit organized by its central bank.
In addition to the United Arab Emirates, Singapore has been granting a string of approvals for crypto companies to operate there, in an effort to draw in the industry’s top talent.
The island city-state’s largest bank recently said it might offer crypto services to “accredited” investors.
Having become more closely identified with crypto, Singapore is also the last known location of fugitive Terra LUNA executive Do Kwon.
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