Hong Kong says it is working to catch up with disruptive power of blockchain technology

Rage Comment : Although Hong Kong is already the world's third largest financial center, it has experienced many ups and downs in its development to its current status. Now Hong Kong's main source of economy is also commercial activities and financial transactions, which shows how much it relies on the financial industry. Therefore, maintaining this hard-won status of a financial center and the prosperity of financial transactions is crucial to Hong Kong's stability. With the emergence and development of blockchain technology, the global financial landscape has changed. It has brought rapid development momentum to various countries and fields. If Hong Kong fails to seize this opportunity, it is likely to be surpassed by other countries and regions. The current inaction of Hong Kong on blockchain is worrying. Therefore, the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) was the first to step forward to lead this trend.

Translation: Niocle

Hong Kong, which has lagged behind in the Internet finance race, has begun increasing its use of blockchain technology to catch up with other financial capital countries.

Starbucks, a famous coffee shop chain in Hong Kong, was the first to use Internet financial technologies such as Bitcoin. However, the reality is not so, and Starbucks employees refuse to use digital currency for payment.

Although this is a small matter, it reflects that the Special Administrative Region of China lags behind the world in Internet finance technology. Today, the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) has taken another step towards Internet finance.

ASTRI said many financial institutions in the Special Administrative Region do not understand the underlying technology of Bitcoin. The organization is strengthening its involvement by using blockchain-based applications that provide different solutions for the mobile phone and near-field communication (NFC) industries.

Blockchain technology has proven itself to be able to bring changes to the banking and financial industries. If Hong Kong is to keep pace with financial giants such as London and New York, Hong Kong must reform as soon as possible. In addition to executing and recording Bitcoin transactions, Bitcoin technology is also used for many other purposes. Currently, Internet financial company R3CEV has influenced more than 43 international banks in the banking consortium. Even the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) is updating its trade settlement system based on blockchain.

Although there are many Bitcoin companies in Hong Kong, Bitcoin technology has not yet been fully developed. Director of Science Data and Information Security at the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) said:

Bitcoin blockchain technology ensures the timeliness of transactions. The transparency of Bitcoin blockchain is visible to everyone, which can effectively prevent money laundering and other illegal transactions. People would never think that they could trade on such a platform, which is accessible to everyone, and some people would point out the deviation of transaction information on the platform.

Bitcoin's technology for preventing money laundering and illegal transactions is just one of many applications that can be used. Santander Group said that by 2022, the use of blockchain technology in the banking sector could reduce transaction, operating and supervision costs by $15 billion to $20 billion.

If Hong Kong wants to continue to be a financial giant in Asia and the Asia-Pacific region, it should adopt the latest Internet financial technology.