July, August & September 2023
Hong Kong’s tech news headlines in 2023’s third quarter captured items including: concerns over Hong Kong’s bid to become a global Web3, and crypto, hub; cross-border data transmission between HK and the mainland’s Greater Bay Area tech zone; a Hong Kong court’s rejection of a government bid to censor all online forms of ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ anthem; and more.
For our other editions, you should take a look at Asia’s tech news, daily, delivered via social media channels, and our Indo-Pacific tech newsletters for a weekly update on the region’s tech news.
Hit the links below for each month’s headlines, or scroll down for an all-in-one update on Hong Kong’s tech news in 2023’s 3rd quarter:
September 2023 | August 2023 | July 2023
e-Conomy Southeast Asia 2023 report – Google, Temasek, Bain and Co
September 2023
- Hong Kong: HashKey Capital launches its first secondary crypto market fund, primarily placing assets in 2nd-tier cryptocurrencies, with investments in Bitcoin, Ethereum and altcoins
- HK-NY Web3 firm, TRLab, raised $5M seed funding with focus on digital asset representations of fine art
- Hong Kong: Buyandship cross-border platform raised $10M Series B, enabling consumers to purchase products globally via unified services platform, overseas centres and more
“…given China and the US are Hong Kong’s main sources of economic and financial backing, it remains to be seen if HK’s web3 push is a bold move…or a policy out of step with the times“
Whether transparent regulations will be enough to create a dynamic new sector of the economy is less clear. A Hong Kong–based employee at an established cryptocurrency company who spoke to The China Project on the condition of anonymity is pessimistic on the prospects of the industry in the city. “Lots of people ask if they should join the industry. My answer is no.”
- Hong Kong: Fraud investigation now underway against JPEX crypto trading platform with claims of $166M in losses and case likely to test new regulations
- Hong Kong: StartMeUpHK Festival 2023 set for November 8-17, touching on topics including Web3, health-tech, sustainability and more
- Hong Kong: SUNeVision data center operator launches Startup Programme, with applications open to December 31st, aiming to select 10 candidates for the inaugural cohort
“SUNeVision Startup Programme is designed to support startups in Hong Kong and those looking to expand in Hong Kong to accelerate innovations and scale up, while connecting the companies to the mission-critical technology partners on the industry-leading ecosystem.”
- Hong Kong: Chimbusco Pan Nation Petro-Chemical, HK’s largest shipping fuel supplier, announces first use of low-carbon biofuel for shipping
- Malaysia Digital Economy Corp and City University of Hong Kong ink MoU to develop connections between the innovation, entrepreneurship and startup ecosystems in HK and Malaysia
CSIS: Semiconductor Supply Chains & Indo-Pacific Economic Framework
August 2023
- Hong Kong: Terminal 3 raises oversubscribed pre-seed round with decentralized storage and zero-knowledge proofs for Web3, keeping user data and ownership private and secure
- Hong Kong: Xverse raised $5M seed funding with Web3 wallet that supports ordinals – digital assets inscribed on satoshi, lowest Bitcoin denomination – and BRC-20 tokens
- Animoca Brands and AWS Activate partner on Web3, with AB portfolio companies gaining up to $25K each in AWS credits, alongside tech, networking, fundraising and marketing aid
- An intro to i2Cool and Super Bamboo, startups backed by City Un of Hong Kong’s HK Tech 300 incubator, providing building-cooling paints and sustainable building materials respectively
KPMG Venture Pulse Q2 2023 Report – Asia findings
July 2023
- HSBC allows customers to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds – ETFs – listed on HK Stock Exchange, via mobile app
- Hong Kong arm of McDonald’s launches McNuggets Land in the metaverse, via The Sandbox
“The Sandbox has had a number of big brands launch experiences and virtual worlds within its metaverse, including Adidas, Atari, Gucci and many others. I have personally found The Sandbox much easier to navigate and generally more fun than its rival Decentraland, which has struggled with maintaining a robust number of daily active users.”
“That said, would I visit The Sandbox if my job wasn’t to cover Web3? Probably not.”
“Cryptocurrency transactions are illegal on the mainland, where Beijing has also banned overseas exchanges…But in Hong Kong, crypto trading is legal and the city is seeking to become a digital assets trading hub.”
SharePass: Online digital security solution
Indo-Pacific TECH news
All-day tech news updates from across the broad – and increasingly strategically and technologically important – Indo-Pacific region, and across South and Southeast Asia:
- Indo-Pacific tech daily on Twitter
- Indo-Pacific tech daily on Facebook
- Indo-Pacific tech news on LinkedIn
Our mobile app is currently offline, due to the ongoing devolution of what was Twitter, now X.
We aim to have the app back online with a much-improved interface and broader functionality by the end of 2023.
World Economic Forum: Space Applications in Agriculture
Indo-Pacific TECH newsletter
Our weekly e-newsletters go out via Substack and LinkedIn, giving a one-glance grasp of the week’s technology news from the Indo-Pacific and South & Southeast Asia.
