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A new guidance creates a regulatory framework for tokenisation of retail investment products and provision of services for tokenised financial instruments.

By Simon Hawkins and Adrian Fong

On 2 November 2023, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued two widely anticipated circulars on tokenisation during the 2023 Hong Kong FinTech Week.

One circular provides conduct-related guidance to intermediaries engaging in tokenised securities-related activities (Activities Circular). The other circular addresses the tokenisation of SFC-authorised investment products (Products Circular), such as retail investment funds.

Before the circulars were released, the SFC’s chief executive spoke of the regulator’s evolutionary rather than revolutionary approach to addressing digital asset-related activities. The circulars indeed reflect this gradual, incremental approach rather than a big-bang moment of regulatory change, and we expect market participants to welcome the SFC’s new guidance as some of them consider exploring tokenised products and services.

In a year-end change of course, the SEC identified the minimum steps that broker-dealers must take when acting as custodians of digital asset securities.

By Stephen P. Wink, Naim Culhaci, Shaun Musuka, and Deric Behar

On December 23, 2020, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) staff issued a statement (Custody of Digital Asset Securities by Special Purpose Broker-Dealers) (the Statement) outlining its position on how broker-dealers must operate when acting as custodians of digital asset securities[i] in order to avoid enforcement action. The SEC’s Statement, which will be in effect for five years, is intended to encourage innovation while providing both industry participants and the SEC the opportunity to develop best practices with respect to the custody of digital asset securities.

A new report explores the advantages, impacts, and approaches the Eurosystem is considering as it contemplates a digital currency.

By Max von Cube

In October 2020, the European Central Bank (ECB) published a Report on a Digital Euro (the Report). The Report sets out the main findings of a task force initiated in early 2020 to investigate the potential for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the euro area.