Hong Kong seeks to restore confidence after Beijing’s investment crackdown

Hong Kong has a messaging problem. Beijing’s ongoing crackdown on overseas investment has spooked international capital, and the city that built its identity as Asia’s freewheeling financial gateway now finds itself playing defense. Financial Secretary Paul Chan is making the case that Hong Kong is not just surviving the turbulence, it’s thriving.

The pitch leans heavily on numbers: over 11,000 overseas companies have set up shop in Hong Kong, IPO fundraising has hit record levels exceeding HK$280 billion, and local banks are sitting on more than HK$14 billion in digital assets.

The numbers behind the confidence campaign

IPO fundraising surpassing HK$280 billion puts Hong Kong ahead of both the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ on several metrics. That’s a remarkable stat for a city that many Western commentators were writing off after the 2020 National Security Law sent shockwaves through the business community.

Foreign chambers of commerce are reporting positive business outlooks at multi-year highs.

Digital assets as a differentiator

While mainland China has maintained its blanket ban on cryptocurrency trading and mining, Hong Kong has gone aggressively in the opposite direction. The city has built out regulatory frameworks for stablecoin issuers, tokenized bonds, and digital asset custody.

By the end of 2025, Hong Kong banks held over HK$14 billion in digital assets, representing a roughly 180% year-over-year increase.

Perhaps the splashiest move was the issuance of the world’s largest digital green bond, worth HK$10 billion in multi-currency denomination.

What this means for investors

The 2020 National Security Law fundamentally changed the risk calculus for many Western institutions. Some law firms, media companies, and NGOs left. The rule-of-law concerns that prompted those departures haven’t disappeared.

The stablecoin licensing framework and bank custody rules provide a clear, legal path to operating with institutional-grade compliance. The 180% growth in bank-held digital assets suggests institutional adoption is accelerating.

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