Web3 Connect 2025 Observation: Challenges and opportunities for institutional investors in the new era of Hong Kong digi

Written by: OSL

On February 17, the Web3 Connect: An Institutional-Focused Forum event co-organized by OSL, Blockdaemon and Solomon came to a successful conclusion in Hong Kong. The summit brought together global regulatory experts, financial institution representatives and technology pioneers to conduct in-depth discussions on topics such as digital asset custody, institutional blockchain applications and compliance trends.

Among them, OSL Chief Institutional Business Officer (CIBO) Zhang Yinghua shared the latest upgrades to Hong Kong’s digital asset regulatory framework in the first panel discussion, and analyzed the new challenges and opportunities this change brings to institutional investors.

Blockchain penetrates the traditional trade system: Stablecoin drives efficiency revolution

First, OSL Chief Institutional Business Officer (CIBO) Zhang Yinghua pointed out that with the popularity of stablecoins, more and more international trading companies choose them as cross-border payment tools to reduce exchange rate fluctuation risks and settlement costs and time.

For enterprises, in scenarios with high payment frequency but low single amount (such as retail payment or salary settlement), they often hope that the payment system can provide both efficient capital flow and low cost. However, the current blockchain technology architecture usually requires customized development to adapt to different business processes and traditional system interfaces.

In terms of actual usage, stablecoins such as USDT have gone beyond serving only cryptocurrency users and transaction scenarios, and have deeply penetrated into a wider range of financial scenarios such as currency exchange, commodity payment, remittances and salary payments. In this context, the market urgently needs a universal and cost-effective integrated development solution to reduce technical complexity and implementation costs, and help enterprises, especially small and medium-sized participants, more easily access blockchain payment networks and obtain Web3 payment service support.

From this perspective, market participants such as OSL that have compliant, secure, efficient and diversified service capabilities – whether it is enterprises integrating Web3 payments into platform payment options, or conducting custody, trading, and settlement of digital assets such as stablecoins and Bitcoin, compliant digital asset platforms such as OSL can provide important support in a low-cost, secure and convenient manner.

In addition, the implementation of PayFi requires not only technical and compliance support, but also collaborative innovation with partners in multiple industries. Therefore, OSL announced in December last year that it would invest up to US$30 million to accelerate the development of the PayFi ecosystem, and comprehensively improve the PayFi ecosystem through close collaboration with partners such as credit card issuers, payment service providers, cross-border e-commerce and logistics companies.

From whether to how: a new paradigm for institutional entry

At the same time, Zhang Yinghua pointed out that the focus of institutional investors has shifted from whether to enter the encryption field to how to deploy efficiently, and more and more investors, financial institutions, listed companies, family offices, etc. have begun to actively consider allocating virtual assets through Hong Kong compliance.

This shift marks the transition of crypto assets from fringe experiments to mainstream configuration, and the improvement of compliance infrastructure has become a key support.

As the first licensed exchange in Hong Kong, OSL has always strictly complied with the regulatory requirements of Hong Kong and around the world, and continuously improved its internal compliance system to ensure that its business operations are legal, transparent and standardized. In particular, with its full license compliance advantages and institutional-level service capabilities, it is becoming the preferred partner for institutions to enter the market:

By providing custody services that meet the highest standards of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), we provide users with reliable digital asset services from KYC/AML compliance review to asset allocation strategy design, from exchange trading to OTC trading, from digital asset custody to institutional customized trading, from crypto ETFs to RWA exploration.

Zhang Yinghua emphasized that the needs of institutional investors have shifted from testing the waters to deepening their investment. They need not only technical tools, but also compliance solutions that can seamlessly integrate with the existing risk control system. OSLs mission is to lower the entry threshold for institutions through infrastructure innovation and promote crypto assets from optional to necessary.

summary

Overall, this summit event sent a clear signal – Hong Kong is incorporating virtual assets into the mainstream financial system through the strong regulation + incremental innovation strategy, and breakthroughs in institutional-level custody solutions, cross-chain interoperability technology and compliant derivatives tools may become the key engine for the next stage of market growth.

Zhang Yinghua concluded, “OSL is not only a service provider, but also a co-builder of the industry ecosystem. We believe that only through continuous innovation and compliance practices can we promote the true integration of crypto assets into the mainstream financial system.”

This article is sourced from the internet: Web3 Connect 2025 Observation: Challenges and opportunities for institutional investors in the new era of Hong Kong digital assets

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