Tag Archives: #cryptocurrencies

Notes from Hong Kong

Posted on by
Reply

My personal relationship with Hong Kong stretches back 30 years – to the time I moved there from London in 1994. I arrived on a 1-2 year contract, and ended up living in the city for 6 years. Since then, I have continued to visit at least once a year, and my latest trip earlier this month was the fifth since hotel quarantine was lifted in October 2022, following the global pandemic.

Despite the significant political, demographic, social and economic upheavals of recent years, in many ways Hong Kong remains the same. It still acts as a fulcrum between East and West, and an important trading entrepôt for mainland China and the rest of the world. There are still the evident paradoxes represented by Hong Kong’s ancient traditions and modern values, combining spiritual beliefs with materialistic tastes, and vertiginous high-rises set against mountainous backdrops and waterfront vistas.

From an economic standpoint, Hong Kong remains in something of a lull. People I spoke to commented that the SAR government needs to find new sources of income, especially as the property market (a cornerstone of the local stock exchange) remains patchy, and visitor numbers are only about 50% of pre-pandemic levels.

As I have mentioned in a previous blog, Hong Kong is usually resilient and adept at reinventing its financial fortunes.

For these reasons, the Hong Kong administration is pursuing a fairly aggressive policy of promoting itself as an attractive global venue for the digital asset industry in part to reinvigorate the local capital markets, in part to outpace its regional neighbour and rival, Singapore. (Plus, the SAR acts as something of a test bed for the rest of the PRC.) According to people I spoke with, there is some difference of opinion as to how many digital asset exchanges are actively pursuing a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license, given that only two licenses have been granted so far, while a number of applications have been withdrawn, refused or rejected for being incomplete.

During my visit, I was granted a 1:1 interview for Brave New Coin with Yat Siu, co-founder and Chairman of Animoca Brands, a leading player in web3.0, NFTs, the metaverse and, potentially, stablecoin issuance. A major advocate of digital property rights, Siu is a very influential figure within the fintech scene, and I expect to see many more announcements from his company leading up to, and during, major events such as Token2049 and Hong Kong Fintech Week. I also met with clients and contacts across crypto exchanges, hedge funds, VCs, brokers and tech providers. All remain suitably bullish on the digital asset sector, although some considered that there needs to be some industry consolidation, to soak up excess infrastructure and to stabilise the entry of institutional fund managers.

Finaly, I found time for some contemporary art exhibitions, confirming that Hong Kong continues to establish its profile in the arena of global culture. There was Bruce Nauman at the JC Contemporary in Tai Kwun, I.M.Pei and Henry Steiner at M+, and even Banksy and Damien Hirst at Sotheby’s Maison at Chater House. Of course, this being Hong Kong, the displays in Sotheby’s showrooms are not too dissimilar to the luxury goods on sale in the surrounding malls.

Next week: Postcript on Tarantino vs Ritchie

 

RWAs and the next phase of tokenisation

Posted on by
Reply

In the blockchain and digital asset communities, there are currently three key topics that dominate the industry headlines. In the short term, the spot Ethereum ETFs are finally due to launch in the USA this week. Then there is the perennial long-term price prediction for Bitcoin. In between, much of the debate is about the future of asset tokenisation, specifically for real-world assets (RWAs). Add to the mix the cat and mouse game of regulatory oversight/overreach and the rapid growth of fiat-backed stablecoins, and there you have all the elements of the crypto narrative for the foreseeable future.

The general view is that tokenising traditional assets such as real estate, equities, bonds, commodities, stud fees, art and intellectual property, and issuing them as digital tokens on a blockchain has several benefits. Tokenisation should reduce origination and transaction costs (fewer intermediaries, cheaper technology); reduce settlement times (instant, compared to T+1, T+2, T+3 days in legacy markets); democratize access to assets (using fractionalisation) that were previously available only to wholesale investors; and give rise to further innovation. For example, imagine hybrid tokens that comprise equity ownership; a right to a share of revenue streams; and membership discounts. Think of a tokenised toll road, or a sports stadium, or an art work that gets hired out to galleries and is licensed for merchandising purposes.

There are still quite a few issues to iron out, such as: the technology standards and smart contract designs that will originate, issue, distribute, track, cryptographically secure and transfer the digital tokens, both on native blockchains and across multiple networks; the role of traditional players (brokers, underwriters, custodians, trustees, transfer agents, payment agents, and share registries), and whether they are needed at all once assets are secured on-chain; and verification, certification and chain of ownership (given that an asset expressed as a digital token is very similar to a bearer bond – my private keys, my asset).

Last week, Upside in Melbourne hosted a panel discussion entitled: “Tokenise This! Unlocking the Value of Real World Asset Tokenisation”. The speakers were:

Richard Schroder, Head of Digital Asset Services, ANZ Bank

Lisa Wade, CEO, DigitalX

Andrew Sallabanks, Head of Strategy and Operations, CloudTech Group

Alan Burt, Executive Chairman, Redbelly Network

Shane Verner, A/NZ Sales Director, Fireblocks

Each of these firms has been working on a number of tokenisation projects such as stablecoins, real estate, government bonds, credit portfolios, fund of funds, and even stud fees. The key message was “faster, cheaper” is not good enough – RWA tokenisation solutions must offer something that is much better than traditional processes, and does not add friction (if anything, it should reduce current friction).

There were frequent references to fiat-backed stablecoins. In some ways, the tokenisation of real estate, bonds and equities is an extension of the tokenisation of money (as illustrated by stablecoins). However, there was no specific mention for the role of stablecoins in RWA tokensiation, for example, as on/off ramps, and as settlement instruments for the pricing, transfer and valuation of RWAs.

From an Australian perspective, the prospect of regulation (particularly for custody, crypto exchanges and brokers, and payment platforms that use stable coins) looms large. Generally, this was welcomed, to provide clarity and certainty. But without some specific provisions for crypto platforms and digital assets, if everything is brought under the existing ASIC/AFSL regime it will exclude many startups and smaller providers due to exorbitant capital adequacy and insurances etc.

Finally, despite the nature of the organisations they work for, all of the panelists agreed that “cryptographic trust is better than institutional trust”.

The potential for tokenising traditional assets has been around for several years. And while it is still relatively early in its evolution, the few listing and trading platforms for tokenised assets that have already launched have struggled to gain traction. They have few listings, limited liquidity, and minimal secondary trading – so, lack market depth. It feels that while the market opportunity may be huge (and the enabling technology is already here), there needs to be a more compelling reason to adopt tokenisation. Hopefully, that will emerge soon.

Next week: Album Celebrations

 

The Crypto Conversation

Posted on by
Reply

A short post this week – mainly to give a shout out to my colleague, Andy Pickering, and the rest of the team at Brave New Coin. Andy kindly invited me to help celebrate the 250th edition of The Crypto Conversation, his regular podcast that has featured a pantheon of leading characters from the crypto and blockchain industry. On this recent edition, we talk about my journey into crypto, the highs (and lows) after six years in the industry, some aspects of “trust”, the usual Crypto Conversation “Hot Takes” and of course, a slightly contentious discussion on science fiction. Enjoy.

Listen here:

Spotify

Apple

Libsyn

Next week: The bells, the bells….

 

Is crypto finally going mainstream?

Posted on by
Reply

Just as my last blog on crypto regulation went to press, news broke that CBA (one of Australia’s “four pillar” banks) will be adding crypto assets to its mobile banking app. Add that to the launch of a crypto equities ETF by BetaShares, and further media coverage of local digital asset fund manager Apollo Capital, and you may start to believe that crypto is finally going mainstream in Australia.

But, before anyone gets too excited, a few caveats are in order.

First, the recent flurry of announcements from the Australian Senate, ASIC and AUSTRAC are simply the latest stages in a long-running debate about how crypto assets should be regulated, serviced and distributed. Despite these positive noises, there is still some way to go before crypto reaches critical mass (even though data for Australia shows we have one of the higher rates of market adoption).

Second, there is a lot of noise out there, and not all of it here in Australia. The SEC, FATF, ISDA, Cboe and SGX are just a few of the institutional voices making announcements on crypto and digital assets in recent weeks. On top of that, of course, there is the President of El Salvador (and the Mayor-Elect of New York) weighing in on behalf of the politicians. Some of this commentary is mere posturing; some is about being seen to be doing something; and a large part is just the legacy markets trying to catch up (and hoping to take control?).

Third, a closer look at CBA, BetaShares and Apollo Capital reveal some significant limitations in terms of what their products actually offer:

The CBA is planning to launch a trial among a small sample of their mobile banking users (although, no doubt, if things go well, it will be rolled out more extensively). But it does not mean the app becomes a fully-fledged crypto wallet: customers will only be able to buy/sell crypto within the app, and they won’t be able to send crypto to third parties. Plus, only a small set of crypto assets will be available.

The BetaShares ETF is not offering direct exposure to Bitcoin or other crypto assets. Instead, the fund is designed to invest in companies (mainly crypto exchanges, miners and technology providers) that are significant or strategic industry players. While that may mitigate the market volatility (and price fluctuation) that crypto experiences, it doesn’t necessarily make for higher returns.

The Apollo Capital fund is only available to wholesale or accredited investors – not retail customers. And while Apollo has done a reasonable job of growing its AUM, I don’t believe there are any major allocations from Industry Super Funds (which manage 27% of Australians’ retirement savings), Retail Funds (21%) or Public Sector Funds (18%). And despite anecdotal evidence that Self-Managed Super Funds (SMSF) are more active in crypto assets (along with Family Offices and HNWIs), recent data from the ATO suggests crypto assets held within SMSF are not much more than $200m.

Having worked in this industry since 2016, it’s always been apparent from an institutional perspective that few want to go first, but nobody wants to be last, when it comes to launching crypto products and services. Of the three Australian stories this week, the most significant is probably the CBA; it certainly got a lot of attention at the recent State of Play presentation by Blockchain Australia, in large part due to the industry implications, and how it will help bring crypto to an even wider audience.

Next week: Summing Up (and Signing Off)