HashKey Group Chairman and CEO Xiao Feng kicked off the 2025 Hong Kong Web3 Pageant on Sunday with a keynote deal with highlighting blockchain know-how’s transformative affect on world monetary infrastructure.
Talking to an early morning crowd on the Hong Kong Conference and Exhibition Middle, Xiao described blockchain as “a brand new technology of economic infrastructure” that essentially adjustments how monetary transactions are recorded, settled and ruled.
Industrial Revolution Requires Monetary Innovation
“Any industrial revolution should await a monetary revolution,” Xiao instructed attendees on the four-day occasion hosted by his firm.
Xiao emphasised historic parallels between technological and monetary evolution: banking credit score supported the British Industrial Revolution, inventory markets enabled {the electrical} revolution in America, and enterprise capital fueled Silicon Valley’s data revolution.
“Cryptocurrency finance will turn out to be the core monetary innovation supporting the fourth industrial revolution.”
The chief highlighted key variations between conventional and blockchain-based finance, together with the shift from financial institution accounts to digital wallets and the transfer from batch settlement methods to instantaneous transaction completion.
Regulatory Modifications and Market Evolution
Xiao famous the importance of the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee’s current resolution to not classify dollar-backed stablecoins as securities, suggesting this permits extra establishments to take part in financial creation processes.
HashKey Group Chairman and CEO Xiao Feng at Keynote speech of 2025 Hong Kong Web3 Pageant. Courtesy of Web3 Pageant
He additionally pointed to main inventory exchanges transferring towards 23-hour buying and selling cycles, in comparison with blockchain markets that function constantly.
“Conventional exchanges will finally have to adapt to compete with cryptocurrency markets which have operated 24/7 since day one,” Xiao predicted.
Hong Kong’s Strategic Function
The occasion options a number of high-profile regulators, together with Paul Chan Mo-po, Monetary Secretary of the Hong Kong Authorities; Joseph H. L. Chan, Below Secretary for Monetary Providers and the Treasury; Christina Choi, Govt Director of Funding Merchandise on the Securities and Futures Fee; and George Chou, Chief Fintech Officer of the Hong Kong Financial Authority.
Whereas mainland China maintains strict prohibitions on cryptocurrencies, analysts view Hong Kong’s supportive stance as a strategic testing floor for the know-how’s potential. This strategy successfully creates a regulatory respiratory area the place blockchain improvements can develop below managed situations, probably informing future insurance policies throughout the broader Chinese language financial system.
The Web3 Pageant continues via Wednesday with business panels, demonstrations and networking occasions, bringing collectively blockchain builders, traders and know-how fans from all over the world.
