Hong Kong authorities have introduced their first policy guidelines focused on the use of AI in finance and proposed a tax incentive for virtual assets, aiming to strengthen its position as a business hub in Asia. In his keynote speech at Hong Kong’s Fintech Week, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Christopher Hui, announced that the government is considering extending a tax break on digital asset ownership, including cryptocurrencies, with plans for legislation by the end of the year. He also touted the development of a unified framework, enabling various regulatory bodies to establish policies governing AI—a technology seen as key for the future of finance and other industries. Hui said: “Hopefully, by expanding the availability of tax concessions to this wider scope of assets eligible under our fund regime and our family office regime, we will be able to add that extra impetus and pull to this [Hong Kong] market on their development front.” Hong Kong set to license more crypto exchanges At the same event, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced plans to license additional cryptocurrency exchanges by the end of 2024.