Victory Fintech Approved as SFC-Licensed Crypto Trading Platform in Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission has formally authorised Victory Fintech as a virtual-asset trading platform, increasing the number of SFC‑licensed crypto venues to 12. The move is the regulator’s first fresh platform approval since June 2025 and comes alongside published SFC guidance that opens a controlled pathway for margin financing and perpetual contracts under a professional‑investor regime.

Under the SFC’s initial framing, licensed brokers may extend margin financing secured by major cryptocurrencies with BTC and ETH set out as the first eligible collateral types, while trading venues will be permitted to list perpetual futures for institutional and professionally qualified clients only. Platforms seeking to offer these products must meet strengthened requirements on margin models, disclosure, custody and operational risk management.

Regulatory sequencing is clear: the SFC is emphasising phased supervisory guidance rather than blanket permissions. Measures expected to be enforced include segregation of market‑making desks into independent units to manage conflicts of interest, tighter custody rules, and clearer standards for over‑the‑counter trading and recordkeeping. These steps aim to channel activity into licensed onshore venues and raise custody and AML safeguards.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, working in parallel, is preparing to begin licensing regulated stablecoin issuers on a deliberately limited basis from March 2026. The HKMA’s initial intake reportedly produced 36 submissions, but its public registry still shows no approved issuers, underscoring the high bar regulators are setting for backing assets, operational controls and cross‑border arrangements.

Victory Fintech’s approval narrows the regulatory arbitrage that previously sustained offshore pools, increasing pressure on unlicensed operators to seek authorization or exit. For institutional participants, licensed platforms now present a clearer legal on‑ramp, although product access will be segmented while margin and perpetual permissions remain restricted to professional accounts.

Industry groups and some legislators are already pressing for implementation details — including proportional enforcement, safe‑harbour protections for directors acting in good faith, and mechanisms to preserve operational continuity when operators exit. International reporting obligations, such as frameworks driven by the OECD, are also expected to influence registration, reporting designs and cross‑border cooperation standards.

Practically, the initial product set will likely concentrate liquidity around BTC and ETH, while the absence of live licensed stablecoin issuers will continue to pose settlement frictions and limit seamless fiat‑linked liquidity. Market makers and liquidity providers will factor these frictions into spreads and provisioning for spot, margin and perpetual markets on Hong Kong‑licensed platforms.

For market incumbents such as OKX and Bybit, banks and institutional brokers, the approval signals a competitive advantage for licensed firms that can align governance, custody and capital requirements with SFC expectations. Expect a wave of product and risk‑model redesigns emphasizing custodial security, margin cap frameworks and collateral concentration limits as firms seek to qualify for the new permissions.

In short, Victory Fintech’s licence is a tactical milestone in a deliberately cautious liberalisation of Hong Kong’s crypto market: it broadens regulated access for professional users while leaving material infrastructure and policy questions — notably stablecoin issuance and detailed custody guidance — to be resolved in the coming quarters.

• Licensed Platforms: "12"
• Eligible Collateral (initial): "BTC, ETH"
• Time since prior platform approval: "First new platform approval since June 2025"
• HKMA stablecoin licensing timeline: "March 2026 (limited approvals expected)"
• HKMA initial submissions received: "36"