The Hashkey Group, founded in 2018, operates a Hong Kong-licensed crypto exchange, the largest in the city. According to its IPO prospectusHashkey’s exchange has facilitated 1.7 trillion Hong Kong dollars ($218 billion) in trading volume as of September 30, 2025. The broader group also offers on-chain services, such as staking and tokenization, as well as asset management services. Hashkey generated 283 million Hong Kong dollars ($36 million) in revenue for the first half of 2025, a 26% year-over-year decline, according to the prospectus.

Hashkey raised 1.6 billion Hong Kong dollars ($206 million) in its IPO, both Bloomberg and Reuters report, citing an unnamed source.

Hong Kong has tentatively embraced cryptocurrencies and digital assets as a way to strengthen its status as an international financial center. The city, alongside Singapore, is one of the first jurisdictions in Asia to establish a licensing regime for cryptocurrency exchanges. Eleven exchanges, including Hashkey’s, are currently licensed to operate in Hong Kong.

“Hong Kong has established one of the clearest and proactive regulatory frameworks in Asia for digital assets,” said Anna Liu, CEO of HashKey Tokenization, the group’s dedicated tokenization division. The Chinese city serves as a “strategic gateway,” connecting “Eastern and Western markets” and “traditional finance with digital innovation.”

Hong Kong earlier this year established a licensing scheme for stablecoins, which has generated interest from crypto companies and investors due to the strength of the Hong Kong dollar. Hong Kong’s market regulator considered allowing crypto firms to connect their local exchanges to their global platforms, allowing Hong Kong-based customers to trade with those based outside the city.

Measures like the stablecoin ordinance “provide the certainty that institutional capital needs,” Liu said. “This clearly transforms Hong Kong (crypto sector) from a speculative market to a predictable and compliant environment for serious founders and long-term investors.”

Hong Kong’s exploration of cryptocurrencies is in stark contrast to mainland China, which still prohibits the sale of digital currencies. (The city’s governance system allows it to have separate policies and regulations from the rest of China). Crypto observers sometimes see Hong Kong’s embrace of digital currencies as a leading indicator of how Beijing will approach digital assets in the future.

While Liu did not share thoughts on China’s plans for digital assets, he noted that “regulatory clarity is good for the industry, so we know which countries and regions we can do.

Several other crypto companies have gone public this year, including stablecoin provider Circleand crypto exchanges Bullish and Gemini. Circle and Bullish raised more than $1 billion in their IPOs, as investors flocked to crypto following the Trump administration’s friendliness to digital assets, including measures like the GENIUS Act, which laid the groundwork for new stablecoins in the US dollar.

However crypto shares did not perform well in the second half of the year. Shares of the circle have lost 70% of their value since their peak in June. Bullish and Gemini shares have lost more than 30% and 60% respectively since they began trading in late summer.

Cryptocurrencies have also fallen since their peak in October, with Bitcoin down about 30% and Ether down about 40%, amid broader concerns about geopolitical tensions, fears of an AI bubble, and hidden weaknesses in financial markets.

HashKey’s trading debut is the latest of many debuts in Hong Kong, as companies flood back to the city’s stock exchange hoping to tap the city’s connections to the Chinese mainland and global pool of capital. Hong Kong is back at the top of the world IPO rankings for the first time since 2019, according to KPMGwith the two major US exchanges in second and third place.