Don't be fooled by USDT's trillion-dollar market cap—the real power is in what it can do that the US Dollar cannot: low-cost cross-border settlements. A Shenzhen factory paying a final payment to Vietnam takes 3 days using SWIFT and incurs a 1.2% fee, while using USDT settles the same day for only 0.1%. African miners purchasing Chinese mining machines also rely on USDT to avoid local currency collapse. Over a year, at least $100 billion in cross-border settlement 'private work' exists outside the US Dollar system.
Hong Kong is promoting a stablecoin pegged to the Hong Kong Dollar, with advantages that others simply cannot match—backed by the mainland's trillion-dollar GDP, Chinese enterprises can transfer funds using the Hong Kong Dollar stablecoin, eliminating the need to be 'converted from Hong Kong Dollar → US Dollar → Renminbi', saving 2% in exchange losses annually; global funds can use it to buy Hong Kong stocks, settling a day faster than brokers. Singapore lacks the mainland's support and simply cannot compete.

Don't foolishly put luxury real estate on-chain—fragmented ownership is neither practical nor liquid. The real opportunity lies in tokenizing financial assets: Hong Kong stock settlement is currently T+2, with reconciliation taking 24 hours and fees at 0.3%; if moved to blockchain (like the digital Hong Kong Dollar chain), settlement can be T+0, with costs reduced to 0.03%. Hong Kong has an offshore Renminbi pool, and on-chain offshore bonds for Chinese enterprises can be directly purchased globally, allowing mainland institutions to invest overseas—Hong Kong Stock Exchange should not compete on scale, but rather become a global cross-border financial center on-chain, which is the right path.

The costs of compliant exchanges are terrifyingly high—last year, helping European institutions set up platforms in Hong Kong cost 180 million just for compliance: anti-money laundering systems, bank channel testing, and a security team of 300 (with salaries starting at 1.5 million).
If Binance operates compliantly, costs can be reduced by 70%—we have already connected with three local banks, KYC directly interfaces with the Hong Kong identity system, and even the digital Hong Kong Dollar wallet is compatible. The savings can be used to reduce transaction fees for users (from 0.1% to 0.05%) and subsidize local startups—only when the ecosystem thrives can liquidity gather.

CEX email registration seems convenient, but Hong Kong family offices are quietly switching to DEX—one exchange froze cards for 3 months last year, and they got scared. In the future, wallets will become as ubiquitous as WeChat Pay: Hong Kong already has wallets that can buy Hong Kong stock ETFs and pay utilities, and in two years, scanning to pay might be faster than credit cards. The current issue with DEX is fragmented liquidity, but if the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's stock liquidity goes on-chain, DEX can accommodate large funds.

The future of AI is a 'micro-payment economy'—Hong Kong AI companies receive only $0.05 for a single data analysis, whereas traditional banks cannot handle it (settlement cost is $1.50). But blockchain can: Layer 2 network transaction fees are less than $0.001, with instant settlement. It's the right time for Hong Kong to grab the 'AI micro-settlement center': over 200 AI companies in Cyberport, once on-chain settlement is established, global AI companies can conduct payment through Hong Kong—much larger opportunity than crypto trading.

Three pieces of advice for Hong Kong:
1️⃣ Regulation should be swift, don't seek perfection: Singapore adapts while doing, with 180 crypto funds; Hong Kong has waited two years and missed the boat.
2️⃣ Liquidity should not be isolated: connecting mainland and global funds, closing the door means big institutions won't participate.
3️⃣ Bet on tomorrow, don't chase yesterday: DEX and AI+Web3 are currently cold, but Hong Kong DEX users have doubled in six months—strategic positioning must be proactive.

Four years after leaving the mainland, I thought the Chinese-language crypto stage was gone. But today, Hong Kong makes me realize: all the previous explorations were for this moment—from compliance experience to technological accumulation, we can finally apply it in the right place. Hong Kong has the support of the mainland, global channels, and a room full of Chinese-speaking developers—the true globalization of Chinese-language crypto has just begun.


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