BREAKING: Hong Kong SFC Greenlights DigiFT – First Licensed Smart Contract Securities Platform Goes Live

Hong Kong's securities watchdog just cracked open the future of finance—and Wall Street's legacy players are scrambling to keep up.

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) granted DigiFT a landmark license to operate as Asia's first regulated on-chain securities exchange. No more regulatory gray area—this is blockchain meets compliance at scale.

Game-Changer for Tokenized Assets

DigiFT's approval signals Hong Kong's aggressive pivot toward Web3 dominance while traditional hubs like Singapore hesitate. The platform's smart contract architecture automates compliance checks—cutting settlement times from days to minutes.

Regulators Finally Wake Up

The SFC's move exposes how painfully slow Western agencies have been to adapt. While the SEC sues everyone in sight, Hong Kong is building the infrastructure for the next trillion-dollar market.

One veteran banker muttered anonymously: 'We spent decades perfecting paper shuffling—now algorithms do it better in milliseconds.' The irony wasn't lost on anyone.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission has granted Type 1 and Type 4 licenses to DigiFT, making it one of the first non-custodial, smart contract-driven platforms authorized to operate tokenized securities in the territory, DigiFT announced in a statement today.

The approval enables DigiFT to offer regulated securities dealing and investment advisory services for tokenized real-world assets to institutional and accredited investors.

Unlike traditional custodial platforms, DigiFT operates through smart contract infrastructure that allows automated, transparent transactions without requiring the platform to hold client assets directly. The company already partners with major asset managers including UBS Asset Management and Invesco to tokenize money market funds and private credit strategies.

"This authorization reinforces institutional trust in tokenized finance and brings us closer to enabling an open, on-chain economy," said Henry Zhang, founder and CEO of DigiFT.

The Hong Kong licensing builds on DigiFT's existing Monetary Authority of Singapore license obtained in 2023, creating a dual-jurisdiction regulatory framework spanning product structuring in Singapore and distribution services in Hong Kong.

Kevin Loo, CEO of DigiFT Hong Kong, noted the platform is "the first to be built on smart contract-enabled infrastructure" among licensed tokenized asset distributors in the territory.

The approval comes as Hong Kong accelerates efforts to establish itself as a global VIRTUAL asset hub, following the passage of the Stablecoin Bill in May 2025 that introduced licensing for fiat-referenced stablecoins. The SFC's willingness to license smart contract-powered platforms signals regulatory acceptance of trust-minimized infrastructure within traditional financial oversight frameworks.

The development could influence other Asian jurisdictions evaluating similar applications, as institutional demand for compliant tokenized asset products continues growing across the region.