Hong Kong to Allow Perpetual Contracts and Crypto-backed Financing

The head of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has announced that the region will soon enable trading of perpetual contracts. The move follows China’s special administrative region to get closer to becoming a global hub for finance. 

Speaking at Consensus 2026 Hong Kong, Julia Leung, the CEO of Hong Kong’s SFC, shared that the new regulations will help regulated firms to expand their financial products and services to their clients. “We will be publicizing a high-level framework for platforms to be offering perpetual contracts,” she stated. 

These instruments will only be available for institutional investors, and it will not serve retail clients. Leung noted that the proposed framework will largely focus on risk parameters and all the firms seeking to leverage such products will be required to be able to manage risks. 

Allowing crypto-backed financing

The SFC head also revealed that brokers based in Hong Kong will soon be able to provide financing with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether, and they will also be able to offer market-making services to their clients. 

“We will allow brokers to provide financing to clients with strong credit profiles, and the collateral will be backed by both securities as well as virtual assets,” Leung said, adding, ”Because virtual assets many of them are very volatile, so we’ll start with two that will be eligible as collateral, bitcoin and ether.” 

She noted that market-makers must have ‘strong conflict-of-interest rules’ and independent units for engaging in such a practice.

Hong Kong’s push for crypto regulations

Since introducing its licensing regime for virtual asset trading platforms (VATPs) in 2023, the SFC has steadily expanded the regulatory framework. This includes the 2025 release of the “ASPIRe” roadmap, which outlines a structured approach to fostering innovation in the virtual asset market through enhanced security, product diversity, and sustainable growth. 

The roadmap has guided subsequent measures, such as easing token admission requirements for VATPs, enabling shared global liquidity through integrated order books with overseas affiliates, and authorizing tokenized money market funds.

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