On May 23, state-owned broadcasting corporation China Central Television (CCTV) aired a segment on cryptocurrency adoption in Hong Kong. As reported in the segment, Hong Kong regulators have "made final preparations" for trading virtual assets in the special administrative region and will accept applications from virtual asset trading platforms.
Zhonghui Cai, an official with the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong, explained on airtime that regulation of virtual asset providers faces challenges such as cybersecurity, surety of customer assets and potential conflicts of interest between platforms and customers.
CCTV is China's largest state-owned broadcaster, providing a variety of programs to more than 1 billion viewers. Interestingly, the 98-second segment said nothing overtly negative about cryptocurrencies. This stands in stark contrast to the strict regulations imposed on cryptocurrencies by authorities in mainland China, which include a total ban on bitcoin mining and cryptocurrency exchanges. However, ownership of cryptocurrencies is now permitted.
On April 13, Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok with more than a billion users, began publishing cryptocurrency price quotes in its search index. A day later, the price quotes were removed and replaced with a message that read: "Unofficial digital currencies do not have the same legal status as fiat currencies. Please invest with caution."
