Investment holding company Huobi Technology has applied for trading licenses from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (HKSFC) through its subsidiary Huobi Services.

Huobi has applied for the Type 1 (securities trading) and Type 7 (provision of automated trading services) licenses from HKSFC.

As early as 2019, HKSFC introduced virtual asset regulatory sandbox, which allows virtual asset trading platforms that meet the prescribed requirements to apply for a license to conduct Type 1 (securities trading) and Type 7 (provision of automated trading services) regulated activities for the provision of virtual asset trading services.

Huobi Tech’s subsidiary had been working on its license application since the virtual asset licensing regime was announced and has recently received a formal acceptance from the HKSFC.

According to the Hong Kong Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, only four applications have been formally accepted by the HKSFC as of March last year since the introduction of virtual asset regulatory sandbox in 2019.

This seems to indicate that the threshold for preliminary preparation and application requirements are high.