Hong Kong announced on May 23 that retail investors can trade cryptocurrencies under new rules for the digital asset industry, and the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) detailed a consultation conclusion document on retail participation this afternoon. Individual investors are expected to be able to trade major cryptocurrencies such as BTC and ETH with appropriate safeguards starting June 1. SFC filings reveal comments on requiring non-security tokens to have a track record of at least 12 months. Regulatory arrangements for stablecoins are expected to be implemented in 2023/24. Stablecoins should not be included for retail trading until stablecoins are regulated in Hong Kong. Regarding proprietary trading, SFC agrees that liquidity on the trading platform is very important to clients. Therefore, SFC allows liquidity provision activities by third-party market makers. However, the current prohibition on proprietary trading is comprehensive and effectively prohibits group companies of licensed virtual asset trading platforms from holding any virtual asset positions. Platform operators should not offer incentives associated with buying or selling specific virtual assets, the SFC said. This principle forms the basis for the requirement that platform operators should not place any advertisements relating to specific virtual assets. With regard to other common services in the virtual asset market (such as income, deposits and lending), the SFC does not allow licensed virtual asset trading platforms to provide these services