As XRP continues its climb, racking up nods from global regulators and initiatives to create bigger adoption alongside side a doable Grayscale XRP ETF and CME XRP futures, a shadow of doubt is cast upon its regulatory standing within the Chinese special administrative situation of Hong Kong.
Ripple’s XRP conspicuous for its absence
On Jan 27, Hong Kong’s financial regulator, the Securities and Futures Price (SFC) granted licenses to 2 local exchanges, PantherTrade and YAX, to diagram within the city—the first crypto trading licenses issued in 2025.
Particularly, the SFC has best popular four cryptocurrencies for trading: Bitcoin, Ether, Avalanche, and Chainlink. The absence of Ripple’s XRP from this list raises questions about the regulatory stance of this particular cryptocurrency within the location. Despite its standard global adoption, XRP is no longer for the time being popular for trading in Hong Kong.
Strict regulations for exchanges alongside side AML and CTF
Licensed exchanges within the location are required to dangle a examine strict regulations, alongside side anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) guidelines. To this level, 10 crypto exchanges dangle registered below these regulations and are popular to diagram digital asset trading platforms in Hong Kong.
The SFC had within the inspiration deliberate to approve 11 crypto trading platforms by the tip of 2024 nonetheless faced delays attributable to rigorous compliance exams. In December 2024, four digital asset trading platforms had been granted licenses, and regulators continue to work carefully with change executives to create obvious that they meet financial requirements.
The clarification for other than XRP from the popular list is unclear, however it can per chance per chance additionally very successfully be associated to Ripple’s ongoing staunch complications in assorted countries. The SFC has no longer equipped any legitimate region off of this decision.
