Over the past few years, the fintech industries of south and northeast Asian countries including Hong Kong, Singapore, and China have demonstrated rapid growth and development, creating some of the most established and innovative Crypto and blockchain startups in all of Asia.

Hong Kong in specific led the growth of the blockchain market in northeast Asia, with its friendly regulatory frameworks and policies for digital currency and blockchain-focused platform providers.

Here are 6 Hong Kong-based blockchain platforms and startups you must be aware of.

OK Link

Founded by OK Coin’s Star Xu, OK Link is a blockchain-based payments and infrastructure platform which enables users within the network to initiate low cost financial transfers and asset settlement with robust internal infrastructure.

The clientele of OK Link, which is primarily composed of banks, remittance companies, and financial technology service providers, can use the network to create cross-border and cross-network transactions and transfers which dramatically improves security, cost, speed, and transparency of global transactions and settlements.

Within a year since its launch, the OK Link platform has added two global banks, 11 fintech applications and 20 strategic partners into its network, actively engaging in cross-border transfers with leading banks and businesses.

The short-term growth of the platform also allowed the company to secure nearly US$10 million in funding from notable private investors and venture capital firms, including Tim Draper and Ceyuan Ventures.

Gatecoin

Gatecoin is one of the few well-rounded blockchain platforms in the market that allows users to initiate in bitcoin trading and avail merchant-related financial services based on the bitcoin blockchain network.

The bitcoin trading service of Gatecoin, which is still remains as the core operation of the company, is fully compliant with current financial regulations of Asian countries and several European countries, making the exchange a safe and reliant regulated exchange for traders to utilize.

However, the exchange lost nearly US$2 million from a sophisticated hacking attack on May 13, losing bitcoin and ether of its users. The exchange is expected to relaunch its platform on August 17, after various security updates and overall improvement in their existing IT infrastructure.

BitSpark

Since its initial launch in 2014, BitSpark attracted the interest of many users and investors in Asia with its global remittance platform that allows anyone on its network to send money abroad, with low fees.

The efficient and cheap transactions initiated by BitSpark have had significant advantages over existing remittance outlets and banking platforms, due to its high level of security and speed of transactions.

The BitSpark team originally debuted the platform as a money transfer blockchain-based application in 2014. Over the past two years, the company continued to expand its services, adding new services and features such as compliance automation, business analytics, enterprise grade security, and optimal market exchange rates.

BitSpark is one of the few blockchain platforms that have maintained its strong partnership with national banking institutions in the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam, enabling users to access its services through major banks such as BDO, BPI, LBC, Indonesias BTN, and Vietnams Vietin Bank.

CoinSimple

CoinSimple is a blockchain platform that allows merchants to accept payments through its Bitcoin E-Commerce and wallet applications.

The platform provides top-tier security services to its merchants, offering bitcoin wallet services in parallel to its Bitcoin payment processing application. Its wallet grants merchants and users full control of their funds and privacy, eliminating the possibility of hacking attacks and security breaches.

Apart from the payment and wallet services, CoinSimple also enables users to convert Bitcoin to several national currencies with reasonable exchange rates. Exchanged funds are sent from the CoinSimple platform directly to merchants and users’ bank accounts.

Cryptonator

The Asian Bitcoin market has a substantially large population of bitcoin wallet service providers and payment applications but significantly lacks blockchain platforms which focus on providing data analytics, security and monetization-related services.

Cryptonator is an online cryptocurrency wallet which supports many digital currencies including Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin, which offers various data and security-related services within its blockchain-based platform.

Users storing their funds and cryptocurrencies on the Cryptonator platform can access high quality security services, merchant tools, developer APIs, while being able to trade their digital currencies for cash.

Cryptonator currently supports 11 cryptocurrencies, 96,000 active accounts, and has processed nearly 2.6 million transactions.

BitMEX

BitMEX, also commonly referred to as Bitcoin Mercantile Exchange, is a popular blockchain-based platform used by professional investors to trade bitcoin and cryptocurrency derivatives.

Traders can work with futures and options on bitcoin against other G10 currencies, including the euro, U.S. dollar, the British pound, and many more.

With reliable data analytics platform and market exchange rates, BitMEX has been a highly rated bitcoin and blockchain platform in Northeast Asia.

Hong Kong’s Growing Crypto/Blockchain Market

With the emergence of innovative and reputable blockchain platforms and startups, Hong Kong has established itself as a major fintech and blockchain hub of Asia. While the city’s blockchain industry is significantly smaller in size compared to the UK and the U.S., its well-established blockchain companies and platforms are providing Asian bitcoin and digital currency users with necessary infrastructure and services.

Featured Image: Skyline Victoria Harbour Hong Kong on Pixabay

This article first appeared on Fintech News Singapore