Source: Futu Group
Dear media friends, we are honored to share with you the recent Q&A with Mr. Zeng Yuchao, Managing Director of Futu Group, on hot market topics. Mr. Zeng Yuchao is mainly responsible for the group's wealth management and Web3 business groups. This time, we focus on three questions:
Comments on the recent trend of many Chinese securities firms being issued upgraded No. 1 licenses and related stocks being popular in the market.
The current situation of virtual asset-related licenses, what is VATP, and what is the No. 1 license upgrade.
Futu's license situation, how to layout virtual assets.
Q1: Recently, many Chinese securities firms have successfully upgraded their No. 1 licenses, and the market response has been very enthusiastic. Coupled with the bull market of Hong Kong stocks and the craze for stablecoins, related stocks have been rising all the way. How do you view this investment trend?
The market's attention to digital assets has increased significantly recently, which has indeed driven the stock price fluctuations of related concept stocks. We believe that this phenomenon reflects the market's high expectations for the future development of Web3.0, blockchain technology and virtual assets, and also reflects investors' response to policy signals and industry trends.
In the short term, the stock price fluctuations of some listed companies due to the announcement of their involvement in virtual asset-related businesses are more the result of emotional drive and expected transactions. The market is looking for "new stories" and "new growth". However, in the long run, only companies with real technical capabilities, compliance qualifications and continuous operation capabilities can build a moat in the field of digital assets, achieve long-term sustainable development, and obtain stable value returns.
We believe that as the regulatory framework of markets such as Hong Kong gradually becomes clearer, the industry will gradually transition from "concept-driven" to "capability-driven" and "value realization". Investors will also pay more and more attention to the actual performance of enterprises in terms of technology implementation, user growth, compliance construction, etc., rather than just relying on concept speculation.
Q2: It is reported that brokers are flocking to upgrade their No. 1 licenses to seize the virtual asset market. So what is the current virtual asset layout and license situation of Hong Kong brokers?
The No. 1 license upgrade of the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission is mainly aimed at licensed brokers in Hong Kong, aiming to enable them to further provide virtual asset trading services on the basis of the original provision of traditional financial product trading services such as securities and funds. The upgraded brokers of the No. 1 license do not include the authority to "custody" customers' virtual assets. Customers' virtual assets must be held in custody platforms approved by the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission, including the Virtual Asset Trading Platform License (VATP) issued by the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission.
It should be noted that compared with the No. 1 license upgrade of securities firms, institutions holding the Virtual Asset Trading Platform License (VATP) have more comprehensive service capabilities, including virtual asset custody, transaction matching, and exchange between legal currency and virtual currency. Securities firms that have obtained the No. 1 license upgrade need to access the licensed VATP platform through the "Omnibus Account" to provide virtual asset trading services for customers. However, the No. 1 license upgraded securities firms can provide "one-stop" transactions, allowing customers to invest in multiple assets including Hong Kong, US, and Japanese stocks, cryptocurrencies, options, ETFs, cash funds (money funds), bonds, etc. on one app. The VATP platform can only provide the underlying transaction matching and custody capabilities of virtual currencies.
Q3: What is the license situation of Futu? How does Futu lay out and embrace Web3.0?
Futu has also made positive progress in virtual licenses for compliant operations. In July 2024, the No. 1 license held by Futu Securities, a subsidiary of Futu Group, was successfully upgraded to provide virtual asset trading services to Hong Kong investors, including retail investors. In August 2024, Futu Securities officially obtained a license and provided four spot trading pairs including Bitcoin, Ethereum and US dollars and Hong Kong dollars to qualified Hong Kong individual investors in compliance. In the future, it will gradually expand to more trading pairs including LINK and AVAX, as well as more functions such as deposit and withdrawal.
In January 2025, Panthertrade (Cheetah Trading), a subsidiary of Futu Group, officially obtained the Virtual Asset Trading Platform License (VATP) issued by the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission, marking another important progress in the group's compliance operations in the field of cryptocurrency. According to the regulatory requirements of the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission, the formal opening of the virtual asset trading platform license needs to be completed in stages. At present, Cheetah Trading is actively cooperating with the Securities Regulatory Commission to carry out the second phase of the evaluation work, including the evaluation of policies, procedures, systems and monitoring measures. After the evaluation is completed, it can officially open to the outside world.
That is to say, Futu Group's two Hong Kong licensed entities, Futu Securities International (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. and Cheetah Trading (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., have respectively obtained the No. 1 license upgrade and the Virtual Asset Trading Platform License (VATP). The two licenses can create a more closed-loop and competitive ecosystem.
In addition to licensed business in Hong Kong, Futu Group is also actively expanding related businesses in Singapore and the United States, steadily advancing the global strategic layout of crypto. Futu's overseas subsidiary Moomoo Securities (Singapore) has obtained the Major Payment Institution (MPI) license issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), becoming Singapore's first digital broker to obtain a digital payment token (DPT) service license, and officially launched Crypto trading services in July 2024.
In the US market, moomoo Securities (USA) has obtained the federal MSB (Money Services Business) license and the MTL (Money Transmitter License) license or exemption in more than 40 states, and launched Crypto trading services for 32 currencies in June 2025. At present, Futu is continuing to promote license applications in other areas covered by its business and continue to improve its global encrypted financial service network.
Thank you for your attention!
Anais
Catherine
Weatherly
Kikyo