Bank of China investment arm issues tokenized notes on Ethereum

BOCI, an investment arm of the Bank of China, issued tokenized notes in Hong Kong, marking the first time that a financial institution in China has issued a digital note in the region.

UBS partnered with BOCI to issue the notes, which were tokenized on the Ethereum blockchain. 

BOCI issued 200 million Chinese yuan worth of notes, which translates to roughly $28 million.

”Working together with UBS, we are driving the simplification of digital asset markets and products, for customers in Asia Pacific through the development of blockchain-based digital structured products, designed specifically for customers in Asia Pacific. We are encouraged by the evolution of Hong Kong’s digital economy and are committed to promoting the digital transformation and innovative development of Hong Kong’s financial industry,” said Ying Wang, deputy CEO at BOCI.

Hong Kong is working toward becoming a crypto hub, with Paul Chan Mo-po, the financial secretary, previously saying that Hong Kong will be embracing regulation.

Read more: Hong Kong is getting cozy with crypto

“The virtual asset market has fluctuated greatly, and some virtual asset exchanges have closed down recently, which makes some people in the society doubt the prospects of Web3. However, we believe this is the right time to push Web3 forward,” he said in a blog post. 

The special administrative region lifted its crypto retail trading ban this month and has encouraged crypto exchanges to seek licenses in the region. 

The Securities and Futures Commission established exchange guidelines — and firms such as Huobi, OKX and BitMEX have expressed intentions to apply for a Hong Kong license. 

Johnny Ng, a Hong Kong legislator, has even invited Coinbase to establish a Hong Kong hub after the SEC sued the exchange last week. 

UBS did not respond to a request for comment asking for the transaction ID by the time of publication.

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