crypto conference arrives in Hong Kong in test for city and CoinDesk
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The arrival of one of the biggest Web3 industry events in Hong Kong is testing the city’s resolve in becoming a virtual asset hub, while the organisers look to expand their footprint in Asia.
Consensus Hong Kong, a three-day cryptocurrency- and blockchain-focused event that kicks off on Tuesday, is leaning heavily into the city’s reputation as a traditional financial hub.
“Naturally, we know our strength, and that is capital markets,” said King Leung, global head of financial services, fintech and sustainability at InvestHK.
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Consensus Hong Kong chairman Michael Lau (left) with InvestHK head of financial services and fintech King Leung at the InvestHK offices in Central on February 13. Photo: Matt Haldane alt=Consensus Hong Kong chairman Michael Lau (left) with InvestHK head of financial services and fintech King Leung at the InvestHK offices in Central on February 13. Photo: Matt Haldane>
Michael Lau, chairman of Consensus Hong Kong and head of business development at the cryptocurrency exchange Bullish, echoed that sentiment.
“Choosing Hong Kong was a pretty strategic decision, because we know that one of the big themes within the whole space is … [that] traditional finance has been enabled by this technology,” Lau said in a joint interview with Leung at the offices of InvestHK on February 13.
Consensus Hong Kong is the first major expansion of one of the premier industry conferences since the organiser CoinDesk, a crypto news outlet whose coverage of FTX account irregularities led to the downfall of the crypto exchange, was acquired by Bullish in November 2023.
Hong Kong, meanwhile, has been looking to show its continued commitment to growing the virtual asset sector while also illustrating its capacity to host major industry events.
One of the hottest topics in the industry right now is stablecoins, which are pegged to fiat currencies such as the US dollar and therefore have more traditional finance applications than other cryptocurrencies. Hong Kong is readying stablecoin regulations that will be overseen by the city’s de facto central bank, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
“Stablecoins has been one of those places where it was a very great product-market fit when it came out,” Lau said. “Because people realised that … it was a really, really great tool for the ability to do remittances, to do payments in a way that makes it more efficient as well as … retain more value to the user.”
CoinDesk’s new event comes two months after the newsroom was rocked by controversy over the firing of editors, including its editor-in-chief, allegedly for a story about Tron founder Justin Sun. In the article, reporter Callan Quinn struck a tongue-in-cheek tone about Sun’s public eating of a banana that was part of the conceptual artwork Comedianwhich the crypto entrepreneur bought for US$6.2 million.
Fortune reported in December that Bullish dismissed the editors, raising questions of editorial independence and conflicts of interest. Quinn said she resigned after learning of the firings and blamed Tron for undue influence. Tron is a top sponsor of Consensus Hong Kong.
“We have great respect for journalists and the important work media outlets do,” Tron said when asked for comment. “Internal matters at CoinDesk are their business, and we cannot speculate or comment on their behalf.”
Bullish did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.
Long before the controversy, however, InvestHK – a government group tasked with bringing business to the city – had been in conversation with CoinDesk during their search for a new Consensus event outside North America, according to Leung.
“We have a lot of Web3, crypto natives in Hong Kong who have been attending Consensus for years, so we already have a very strong fan base,” Leung said.
Amid its push to become a global virtual asset hub, Hong Kong has been dealing with seismic shifts in the crypto industry. The re-election of the now crypto-friendly Donald Trump to the US presidency sent the price of bitcoin to a record high.
Lau noted that Consensus Hong Kong is the first major industry event since Trump’s inauguration on January 20. While he did not give specific numbers for registered attendees, he said more than 100 countries are represented and the large influx of people reflects how moves in the US have increased interest in this space.
“The fact that you have a widening base of different governments showing public support and more regulators providing clarity, all of those things are quite positive,” Lau said. “[Sentiment] has certainly shifted because all of a sudden it’s accelerating – the excitement around this, the adoption around this.”
Crypto adoption has long been higher in Asia than in other parts of the world, which some have attributed to factors including a large underbanked population. Citing data from a CoinDesk survey last year, Lau said crypto adoption in Asia is at 22 per cent, nearly three times the global average of 7.8 per cent.
Hong Kong, once home to leading crypto companies such as Crypto.com and FTX, lost its edge when it signalled regulatory tightening in 2020. While it has been trying to reverse course through greater regulatory clarity since 2022, there is greater competition now from other regional players, especially Singapore.
However, Lau and Leung say that Hong Kong has no competition when it comes to liquidity and capital markets, pointing to the much larger market for initial public offerings.
“Anything related to innovation, related to capital markets, then Hong Kong has to be the natural choice,” Leung said.
Lau himself has a strong connection to Hong Kong. He has been based in the city for 16 years, even as New York-based Bullish established its regional headquarters in Singapore. But while Lau said he is happy to see Consensus come to his home city, he insisted the real reason behind the location choice was all business.
“There are very few places in the world where you could do something like this,” he said. “Where you have the vision of what we want to bring, the environment that supports it, as well as the infrastructure to be able to execute it.”
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