Paul Chan says that blockchain and Web3 tech will be responsible for the next big wave of growth in
Hong Kong’s digital tech sector.
Hong Kong’s financial secretary, Paul Chan Mo-po, has reiterated his support for blockchain
technology, calling it the next wave of “breakthrough growth” in the digital technology industry.
In an Aug. 27 blog post, Chan wrote that emerging sectors within Web3, such as NFTs, GameFi, Play-to-Earn gaming, and immersive entertainment, are set to lead the next generation of digital entertainment.
“The core blockchain technology of Web3, with its characteristics of disintermediation, security,
transparency, immutability and low cost, can be applied in many fields such as finance, commerce,
trade, supply chain management, and even daily life.”
Chan’s statements came in the wake of his visit to a three-day blockchain-focused event
called the Digital Entertainment Leaders Forum, hosted in Cyberport in Hong Kong.
Cyberport is a 25 hectare, mixed-use tech and multimedia hub which provides grants, funding and
office space to a wide range of companies across the tech, digital entertainment and finance sectors.
Notably, Chan mentioned he had allocated an additional $50 million from this year’s budget to
Cyberport earlier this year— to help it accelerate the development of a “vigorous” Web3 ecosystem.
Chan noted that Cyberport had already gathered over 180 Web3-related tech companies including
startups and fully-fledged exchanges under its roof, highlighting that 20% of the companies have come from overseas.
While China has maintained a hardline anti-crypto stance for nearly half a decade — Hong Kong
has released new crypto-friendly legislation to position itself as a global hub for digital assets.
Part of Hong Kong’s ongoing commitment to invest in the megatrend of Web3 development saw the
special administrative region create a Web3 task force — to provide recommendations on the
sustainable and responsible development of the industry.
On Aug. 3, local crypto exchange HashKey announced that it successfully obtained all of the necessary
licenses to begin offering crypto assets to retail investors — becoming the first exchange in Hong Kong
soil to expand its business from solely serving institutional investors.