Hong Kong’s largest crypto exchange sees lukewarm market debut, shares gain 3%
HashKey Group logo seen on a smartphone and on a pc screen.
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HashKey shares rose 3% Wednesday as they debuted on the Hong Kong stock exchange, after the crypto exchange raised $206 million in its initial public offering, at a time when crypto currencies have taken a beating.
HashKey, Hong Kong’s largest licensed crypto exchange, raised around 1.6 billion Hong Kong dollars after pricing the IPO at HK$6.68 per share, near the higher end of the marketed range of HK$5.95 to HK$6.95.
While mainland China has imposed a blanket ban on cryptocurrencies since 2021, Hong Kong has been more receptive toward digital assets.
Key cornerstone investors included Fidelity, UBS, Chinese investment firm CDH Investments and Cithara Fund amongst others. JPMorgan and financial services firm Guotai Haitong were among the joint bookrunners.
“Our mission is to make digital assets massively accessible, and what we are doing is to create a compliant platform to connect our users with the digital assets industry,” HashKey Chief Financial Officer Eric Zhu told CNBC.
“We are confident that the [crypto] penetration rate in Hong Kong, in the Asian market, is going to catch up with what happens in the U.S,” Zhu added.
The listing comes amid recent volatility in global cryptocurrency markets after touching record highs. The world’s largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin, has dropped around 36% in about a month after hitting an all-time high and crossing past $126,000 in early October. It is down about 6% so far this year.
Established in 2018, HashKey operates a licensed digital asset platform offering exchange trading, over-the-counter services, on-chain services such as staking and tokenisation, as well as asset management solutions for institutional and retail clients.
“This is a milestone for the digital asset and wealth management industry in Asia. We believe Hong Kong is establishing itself as a key hub for regulated digital assets in Asia,” said William Ma, CIO at GROW Investment Group.
—CNBC’s Emily Tan contributed to this report.
