On Monday (November 13th), the cryptocurrency exchange Bitget announced that it will abandon its plan to obtain a virtual asset trading platform (VATP) license in Hong Kong and urge users to withdraw assets before December 13th.
According to an official statement, BitgetX, a Hong Kong subsidiary of Bitgetx (accessible through the domain name Bitgetx.hk), will cease operations on December 13, 2023. After this date, the BitgetX website will be inaccessible and customer assets will not be extracted.
Bitget emphasizes that users will not be able to immediately trade assets on the platform and will only accept withdrawal requests. In addition, starting from November 13th, the website has stopped accepting new users.
The crypto exchange told users, "We inform you with a heavy heart that due to business and market related considerations, we have decided not to apply for a VAT P license in Hong Kong anymore... At the same time, Bitgetx. hk will permanently withdraw from the Hong Kong market
In April 2023, BitgetX announced the launch of the spot trading and peer-to-peer (P2P) trading platform for Hong Kong users, allowing local customers to trade and hold virtual assets on the platform. At the same time, its Bitget.com Hong Kong users are also required to transfer to the BitgetX platform to comply with the Hong Kong VASP (Virtual Asset Service Provider) system effective June 1, 2023.
Although Hong Kong has relaxed its regulation of cryptocurrencies, the recent surge in inappropriate activities on unlicensed virtual asset trading platforms (such as JPEX) has raised concerns among Hong Kong regulatory authorities about the industry's regulation.
