Hong Kong lawmaker advocates for including bitcoin in financial reserves following Trump’s speech
Johnny Ng, a Hong Kong lawmaker, has pledged to start conversations in Hong Kong surrounding the possibility of “including bitcoin in financial reserves” following former U.S. President Donald Trump’s speech over the weekend.
Ng, a member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, wrote in a post on X on Sunday that it is “worth considering” to assign bitcoin as part of the region’s official financial reserves.
“The global acceptance of bitcoin is constantly increasing, and bitcoin is seen by the public as ‘digital gold’ in the context of its technology, so in the future, it is indeed possible to research and consider including bitcoin in strategic financial reserves, as long as it is compliant,” Ng said.
Ng’s latest comment came after Trump promised in a Saturday speech at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville that he would create a “strategic bitcoin reserve” if elected in November.
“I will discuss the feasibility and opportunities of including Bitcoin in financial reserves with different stakeholders in Hong Kong, and will report the situation to everyone in a timely manner,” Ng said in the X post.
Unlike its neighboring Chinese mainland’s broader crackdown on cryptocurrency trading and mining, Hong Kong rolled out the welcome mat for crypto firms last year. In June 2023, Hong Kong officially started its crypto licensing regime for crypto trading platforms, allowing licensed exchanges to offer retail trading services.
However, Duncan Chiu, a Hong Kong lawmaker, has raised concerns over the “excessively stringent” regulations for crypto exchanges to obtain a license, criticizing that these rules have pushed major global exchanges away from entering Hong Kong. Many global exchanges — including OKX , Gate.io and HTX — have withdrawn their license applications in Hong Kong.
