Hong Kong’s confidence in crypto sours amid JPEX scandal
The angle of Hong Kong residents in direction of cryptocurrency has sharply worsened after the scandal with the JPEX cryptocurrency change.
A survey from the Hong Kong College of Science and Expertise Faculty examined the impression of the JPEX scandal on public attitudes in direction of digital property.
The survey started on Sept. 28, about 11 days after the allegations in opposition to JPEX had been made public, and in contrast its outcomes with an analogous survey performed between April and Could.
The survey outcomes confirmed that 41% of respondents would like to not maintain digital property, up 12 share factors from the Could survey.
On the similar time, solely 20% of respondents will likely be able to retailer digital property over time. That is down 5 share factors from the earlier survey – one other signal that Hong Kong residents’ attitudes in direction of the cryptocurrency trade could worsen.
HKUST specialists admitted that the second research was performed shortly after an alleged monetary rip-off involving a cryptocurrency platform final month. Nonetheless, the researchers didn’t point out the controversial crypto change straight.
Professor Allen Huang, affiliate dean of HKUST Enterprise Faculty, stated the latest monetary incident has introduced extra public consideration to the cryptocurrency trade, resulting in a “extra conservative funding urge for food.”
“As digital property develop into more and more part of the digital financial system, extra instructional initiatives are wanted to reinforce public understanding and consciousness of the dangers and potentials of this rising discipline.”
Allen Huang, affiliate dean of HKUST Enterprise Faculty
In mid-September, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Fee (SFC) launched an investigation into the JPEX crypto change. The regulator alleged that cryptocurrency influencers and the buying and selling platform “made false or deceptive statements on social media.”
As well as, the nation’s police stated they’d obtained at the very least 83 complaints associated to JPEX and digital property price about HK$34m ($4.3m).
