The Hong Kong Virtual Asset Consortium (HKVAC), formed on May 31, was designed to produce indexes and rating services specifically for cryptocurrencies.

In an announcement made on July 4, BitgetX, a cryptocurrency exchange, stated that it has joined the HKVAC. The consortium offers rating services and develops indexes for cryptocurrencies.

The inception of the HKVAC was marked by Huobi becoming its first member on May 31. The consortium plans to develop two distinct indexes. The first one, the Cryptocurrency Large Market Cap Index, will derive its values based on the 30 highest capitalized cryptocurrencies according to a seven-day median, with other criteria and a quarterly rebalancing plan. The consortium also intends to introduce a Cryptocurrency Risk Rating Based Index in the future. Fiona Fan, one of HKVAC’s founding members, said:

“We are privileged that BitgetX has chosen to support us by becoming one of our founding members. The mutual aspiration to collaborate and foster the sustained growth of Hong Kong’s virtual asset industry, including the creation of regulatory management standards for trading platforms, has been a pivotal motivation.”

Other collaboration objectives include enhancing the transaction quality, offering superior risk management services for investors, and promoting a safe trading environment.

In tandem with this announcement, BitgetX reaffirmed its intention to secure a Virtual Asset Licensing Regime (VASP) from the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong. This new regulatory licensing framework came into effect in this special administrative region on June 1. Patrick Pan, BitgetX’s co-founder and CEO, stated: “We are committed to cultivating a compliant and secure digital asset ecosystem for the global market, with a particular emphasis on propelling the Web3 industry in Hong Kong.”

Hong Kong has shown progressive steps toward adopting Web3 technologies over the past few years. The special administrative region recently set up a Web3 task force headed by Financial Secretary Paul Chan. Yat Siu, the CEO of Animoca Brands, has also joined the task force as one of its founding members.