Hong Kong SFC: Rules, Principles, and "Quick Failure"
This episode features a fireside talk from the Finternet 2025 Asia Digital Finance Summit, themed "Hong Kong's Breakthroughs, Innovation and Safeguarding". The session was moderated by Gary Tiu (Executive Director, Head of Regulatory Affairs, OSL Group), with guest Eric Yip (Executive Director, Intermediaries Department, SFC Hong Kong). Text summary.The Finternet 2025 summit took place on 4 November in Hong Kong under the theme "Connecting Dreams × Building the Future," supported by more than ten institutions including OSL Group, Invest HK, the Financial Services Development Council and Hong Kong Cyberport.On 3 November, the SFC issued a circular allowing licensed local Virtual Asset Trading Platforms to share order‑books with affiliated overseas platforms -- meaning Hong Kong investors will soon be able to trade into the same liquidity pool as overseas markets, directly accessing deeper liquidity and closer to international pricing.Timeline:00:00 Philosophy and Challenges of Crypto Regulation in Hong Kong03:47 Balancing Regulatory Rules and Principles06:21 Differences Between Banking and Regulatory Mindsets09:30 Progress and Goals of SFC Policies in 202310:35 Progress and Challenges of Regulatory Frameworks11:55 Promoting Rapid Innovation and Licensing Programs14:17 The "Quick Failure" Mechanism in Regulation16:00 Trial-and-Error Challenges and Strategies in Policy Making18:11 Product Innovation and Development Expectations
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Hong Kong & Middle East Regulators: Perfection Can Backfire
This episode features a fireside talk from the Finternet 2025 Asia Digital Finance Summit, themed "From Hong Kong to the Middle East: The Evolution of Digital Assets Regulation". The session was moderated by Rocky Tung (Director, Policy Research & Specialist Advisor, Financial Services Development Council, Hong Kong), with guests Elizabeth Wong (Director of Intermediaries & Head of FinTech, Securities and Futures Commission, Hong Kong) and Wai Lum Kwok (Senior Executive Director, Financial Services Regulatory Authority, Abu Dhabi Global Market). Text summary.The Finternet 2025 summit took place on 4 November in Hong Kong under the theme "Connecting Dreams × Building the Future," supported by more than ten institutions including OSL Group, Invest HK, the Financial Services Development Council and Hong Kong Cyberport.On 3 November, the SFC issued a circular allowing licensed local Virtual Asset Trading Platforms to share order‑books with affiliated overseas platforms -- meaning Hong Kong investors will soon be able to trade into the same liquidity pool as overseas markets, directly accessing deeper liquidity and closer to international pricing. Timeline:00:00 Introduction: Hong Kong Financial Services Development Council01:49 SFC's early regulatory experiences and developments04:08 Hong Kong's latest policy: Accessing global liquidity07:05 Changes in Abu Dhabi's regulatory framework08:39 The trend of integration between traditional finance and crypto markets10:40 Regulatory challenges in cross-border transactions and capital flows12:59 Tokenized assets and global regulatory alignment14:31 Progress in Hong Kong's digital asset ecosystem development15:06 The relationship between license approval processes and market development18:56 Interoperability and the integration of technology and regulation22:10 Practical applications and market feedback on tokenized assets
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EP-45 Vision of VISION: Bitpanda's Path to DeFi & TradFi
In this episode, Georg Hahn, Delivery and Execution Lead for Bitpanda's Web3 projects, discusses the Vision ecosystem and how Bitpanda is bridging traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi). Georg explains how the Vision token powers Bitpanda's Web3 infrastructure -- a suite of products empowering both retail and institutional users -- with a focus on tokenomics, governance, and partnerships.Bitpanda is a cryptocurrency trading platform that provides user brokerage services for Bitcoin and other digital assets. It has a wallet and trading platform, enabling users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies using Euro, credit cards, Skrill, SEPA transfers, and other methods.Timeline: 00:00 Introduction and Background04:25 The Vision Ecosystem at Bitpanda08:39 Pillars of the Vision Ecosystem12:38 Comparing Vision to Other Tokens18:37 Strategic Partnership with SG Forge20:30 Strategic Goal Behind Bringing SG Forge Stablecoins Directly On-Chain22:02 Balancing Innovation and Compliance25:32 The Future of European Exchanges in Web328:48 Competition vs Collaboration Among European Platforms30:21 Vision Ecosystem's Global Expansion: Focus on Asia34:58 Europe's Web3 Identity: Compliance and Long-Term Sustainability39:11 Vision's Path Forward
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EP-44 With Deribit CEO Luuk: Options, Coinbase, and DeFi
In this in-depth interview, Deribit CEO Luuk Strijers shares insights into the company's journey from a niche crypto options platform to a leader in institutional trading. Deribit is currently the largest cryptocurrency options exchange. Its BTC options trading volume accounts for over 80% of the total market, while ETH options make up more than 90% of the total ETH options market volume.Luuk highlights Deribit's early entry, product specialization, and robust infrastructure as key advantages over multi-product competitors like Binance. Luuk details the reasoning behind Deribit's acquisition by Coinbase, citing strategic alignment and expanded global reach. He addresses regulatory challenges, especially KYC complexities, and emphasizes a continued institutional focus. Luuk also shares thoughts on DeFi competitors, expansion plans, product development (including smaller contracts and longer-dated options), and Deribit's vision as Coinbase's international options arm. Text summary.Timeline：00:00 Luuk's Background and Journey into Crypto02:20 Why Deribit Dominates Crypto Options Despite Big Exchange Competition05:20 Product Depth vs. Liquidity vs. Trust: What Drives Deribit's Market Leadership07:25 Coinbase Acquisition: Why Deribit Chose to Sell and Future Synergies10:05 Addressing KYC Complaints and Future Compliance Under Coinbase13:55 Will Deribit Ban Users from China or Hong Kong Post-Acquisition?14:20 Can On-Chain Platforms Like Hyperliquid Challenge Centralized Exchanges?18:00 Strategic Focus: Deribit's Roadmap After Joining Coinbase20:12 Role of Asia in Deribit's Future Growth20:55 Team Size and Culture: Deribit vs. Coinbase Workforce22:10 Biggest Challenges as CEO and Core Competitive Edge in One Sentence24:25 On Competing with IBIT and Market Share Impacts27:53 Expanding Beyond BTC/ETH: Will Deribit Add More Assets Like Gold?31:14 Linear Contracts and Smaller Sizes to Increase Accessibility32:20 Demand for Long-Dated Options (LEAPs) and RFQ-Based Solutions33:27 Institutional Strategy and Why Coinbase-Style Culture Matters
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OKX Founder in TOKEN2049: Focus on On-Chain and Payments
This episode features two segments from OKX Founder and CEO Star Xu at the TOKEN2049 conference: a keynote speech and a fireside chat. The audio content is in English.In his keynote, Star Xu reflected on the evolution of the crypto industry over the twelve years since OKX was founded, highlighting Bitcoin and stablecoins as two major milestones. He contrasted traditional finance, which he described as a "closed system," with DeFi as an "open system." He emphasized that the future of finance will be built on transparent, interoperable, and global on-chain infrastructure, enabling full tokenization of assets and payments.In the fireside chat, Star Xu focused on the rollout and vision of OKX's payment product, OKX Pay. He revisited the rise of Bitcoin and stablecoins, stating that stablecoins are poised to become the core infrastructure of future payments -- enabling low-cost, cross-border, peer-to-peer transactions, while also exceeding traditional banks in terms of security and compliance.Timeline:Keynote Speech by Star Xu00:00 Bitcoin and stablecoins as the foundation of the crypto industry01:08 The transparency and globalization of DeFi02:51 Self-custody and compliance empower users to regain control04:42 OKX builds real-time on-chain monitoring and global compliance framework05:30 X Layer and OKX Vision Fund support the on-chain financial ecosystemFireside Chat06:30 How crypto payments can integrate into daily life08:40 Stablecoins as the future infrastructure for cross-border payments10:01 How OKX Pay differs from and improves on traditional credit card payments12:38 How on-chain payments enable yield generation for users14:49 OKX as a liquidity hub for stablecoins15:32 Why OKX chose a hybrid "self-custody + compliance" model16:00 Multi-signature security to protect user funds16:40 X Layer as the global infrastructure powering OKX Pay
A podcast from professional media brand WuBlockchain that discusses and analyzes important news in the crypto world, with a special focus on Asia. https://twitter.com/WuBlockchain
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