HSBC Joins the Race in the Crypto Sector

HSBC, one of the world’s leading banks, is expanding its digital assets development activities. South China Morning Post newspaper said that CEO Noel Quinn has expressed a strong desire to deploy new financial services for real-life applications. Although it has conducted research on token issuance, the bank is still careful to avoid the fluctuations often seen in the cryptocurrency market.

During a conference in Hong Kong, Quinn highlighted the possibility of converting a variety of assets into digital tokens, with an emphasis on their tangible value. Tokenization is the process of converting ownership of physical assets into digital tokens, through which they can be easily bought, sold and exchanged on the blockchain platform, turning ownership into tokens in the ledger system decentralized.

HSBC has led the way in asset digitization by launching the first retail gold token in March. This project, using HSBC’s blockchain technology for the first time for individual investors, lays the foundations through Orion platform – the operating center of the gold tokenization project. Quinn mentioned the many benefits of tokenization, emphasizing that it is highly efficient, cost-effective, and has many superior features compared to traditional trading methods.

He affirmed HSBC’s commitment to developing new applications for technology, emphasizing the exploitation of assets with real value, which he called “backed by tangibles”. He also pointed out that, although cryptocurrencies use similar technology, they are volatile and difficult to predict.

Hong Kong has become a pioneer in the adoption of tokenization technology. In November, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced its readiness to grant securities status to tokens and allow management of related funds.

This method involves issuing tokens based on blockchain technology, denoting ownership of various investment instruments. Previously, the Hong Kong government issued digital bonds worth about 750 million USD in various currencies, through HSBC’s Orion platform, approved by the Central Money Market Unit (CMU) manage.

This initiative has helped HSBC record a significant improvement in efficiency, with issuance settlement time reduced from 5 days to 1 day. Besides, the payment process and coupon distribution for secondary market transactions have also been significantly simplified.