Hong Kong’s ZA Bank will launch crypto trading for retail customers. According to local media reports on November 25th, the digital bank of Hong Kong, ZA Bank stated that it is now the first bank in Asia to provide Bitcoin and other crypto trading services to individual customers through its app. Users can use US dollars and Hong Kong dollars to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The addition of the customer base to include retail customers comes at a time when Hong Kong has been seeing a rise in pro-crypto policies and measures to establish the region as a crypto hub in East Asia.
ZA Bank Plans For Promotional Strategies For 2025
With a platform charge of 1.5% of the transaction value and a commission of 1.99 USD or 15 HKD each transaction, the entry threshold for the crypto trading service for retail customers will be set at 70 USD or 600 HKD.
Additionally, the bank states that by the end of June 2025, ZA Bank plans to introduce promotional strategies that include lowering the platform charge to 0.8% and waiving commissions.
According to Wu Zhonghao, acting CEO of ZA Bank, the bank attained monthly profitability in July of this year, and this new venture is anticipated to boost revenue growth even more.
Hong Kong Sees Rise In Pro-Crypto Policies
Hong Kong’s Crypto Adoption has been seeing a steady rise, giving a push to various organizations in the region to take up pro-crypto measures.
Previously, in an effort to promote cross-border tokenization transactions, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) had announced strategic partnerships with the central banks of Thailand and Brazil.
These projects were designed to concentrate on wholesale central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) for payment versus payment (PvP) settlements and atomic settlement for digital assets (delivery versus payment, or DvP).
In the same tone, following a five-month inspection phase that had cast doubt on the likelihood of more licenses, Hong Kong officials had finally anticipated licensing new digital-asset exchanges by the end of 2024.
Eric Yip, executive director for intermediaries at the Securities and Futures Commission had stated that a definitive list of the platforms moving from a provisional permit to a fully licensed status will be released before the end of the year.
Hong Kong Becomes A Strong Crypto Player In East Asia
Not surprisingly, Hong Kong is ranked 30th globally on our Global Crypto Adoption Index and has had the biggest year-over-year growth in Eastern Asia, at 85.6%.
More than 40% of Hong Kong’s total value was received in stablecoins each quarter; this percentage is expected to increase when the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s (HKMA) regulatory framework takes effect and regulated stablecoins are allowed to be offered to Hong Kong’s retail investors.