Bitcoin Forum

So maybe it was me who had the wrong assumptions here, but wasn't everyone excited about Hong Kong and HashKey launching as the first crypto platform there on the 28th of August? I was really expecting to see millions of dollars in terms of trading volume but now that I'm checking the platform:

https://www.hashkey.com/en-US/spot/BTC_USD (If you can't access the link, use a VPN with Hong Kong servers).

It's very disappointing, to say the least (less than 100K volume). So what am I missing here?

USDT/USD got the highest volume for 24 hours and it's $53k. While for Bitcoin/USDT just only $5k.

They're still new and I think that they need to work on their exposure through many platforms. Like they have to maximize whatever resources and how much it is for them to get more potential customers.

If this don't get that much volume within a year, there's something wrong with the management. But this is not new for these newly launched exchanges whether they're backed by government or not.

Perhaps we shouldn't anticipate anything spectacular from them. They only recently opened, however given the buzz surrounding their launch, I was expecting something bigger by now, given that Hong Kong is one of China's districts and a country recognised for its crypto hub. We'll just have to wait and see how management approaches attracts more potential visitors whilst increasing the volume in the coming months.

^ I agree, another thing to consider is we are still in a bear market. I remember before on popular exchange we have right now, they started from nothing, and some of them were born during a bear market.
This is also my first time hearing about this exchange. Seems there are really a lot of things being cooked in Hongkong especially their new stable coin called FDUSD (First Digital USD). I'm looking forward how Hongkong will transform about cryptocurrency.

Hashkey isn't the first exchange to operate or allow HK residents to trade. Even if you search for the keyword "trading bitcoin in HK", you will be recommended the top exchanges that previously dominated the Hong Kong market.

I think residents have their own conventional way of trading. So, it's too early to expect a spike in volume on this new exchange.

Well, first, correct me if I'm wrong, but HashKey may be the first exchange to have gotten Hong Kong's crypto license, but it isn't actually the first platform to have ever offered this opportunity in the city. The people in Hong Kong can actually trade on unregulated crypto exchanges based outside the territory such as the giants Binance, OKX, ByBit, Huobi, and others.

Secondly, this new license is only first as far as retail traders are concerned. Professional investors and institutions have been trading for years already. And I assume the big money in this financial district belongs to the professionals and institutional investors.

Third, there's only a handful of pairs available, basically just offering BTC and ETH and a couple of stablecoins. I guess this would increase when other cryptocurrencies are supported.

Also, the trading just began days ago. There will surely be growth in the coming weeks and months.

Perhaps compared to the launch of multinational CEXs that not requiring KYC is considered unfair, especially if we review the taxes in Hong Kong and whether the tax there is low or acceptable, as we are talking about a small geographical area and therefore it is natural for the trading volume to be low.
The days rule over the experience, and since the continuity of any economic activity means making profits, if those profits are not achieved, they will not continue.


https://kpmg.com/cn/en/home/insights/2020/04/tax-alert-8-hk-taxation-of-digital-assets-in-hk.html

You have the right to be surprised given the high expectations that preceded the launch of the exchange, since it is related to the Hong Kong government, but as you mentioned, the launch took place a few days ago, so it is still too early to judge.

Perhaps the exaggeration of expectations was caused by social networking sites and not by exchanges. Many people expected that the exchanges supported by the government would be able to compete with the large, well-known exchanges.

But so far, we see only weak performance and low volumes for Bitcoin and Ethereum on the USD, USDT, and USDC pairs.
Let's wait and see.

I checked the trading history and it seems like most orders are created by bots. Kinda surprising that they openly show small orders that are likely a bot yet failed to reach at least hundreds of dollars of trading volume. It seems like the volume also went down recently?

The UI itself is quite okay, other than a lack of interest from the targeted market or lack of marketing/competitiveness, I don't see other reasons why the exchange would fail. Kinda reminds me of one exchange I followed in the past. They spent a ton of money buying ad slots on La Liga, then went bankrupt just a few months later.

It's hard to compete even if they're going to solely focus with their locals. Despite the good news about them as part of recovery plan to be cool with cryptos, bitcoin and things related to it. That doesn't ring a bell for now, maybe the impact will be just good as possible in the next several months to years but looking at it now is an expected result. Although they have an advantage for being the first exchange in Hong Kong to be granted with a license to operate as an exchange. I also see that they're not just an exchange but also got some other service to offer based on their website: https://group.hashkey.com/en/
Honestly, they need to focus first gaining popularity as an exchange and then had a side way from those services that they offer. Because once they gain the popularity as an exchange, they're easily recognized and partnerships will just come eventually to them. Well, it's truly a tough market for them to compete based on the market's status now. Maybe trying some test run of marketing ad campaigns and competitions could help them be recognized.