HashKey Holdings Limited is set to become Hong Kong’s first publicly-listed crypto exchange after filing its initial public offering on Monday, outlining the scale of its trading, custody, and tokenization businesses in the city, which has emerged as one of Asia’s most active regulated hubs for digital assets.

The IPO sets out 240.57 million shares in the global offering, including 24.06 million for Hong Kong investors and 216.51 million for international buyers, with a maximum price of HK$6.95 per share, according to a prospectus.

HashKey is creating “a digital asset ecosystem” that delivers products and services “tailored to meet distinct and evolving needs of retail investors, institutional clients and other stakeholders alongside the blockchain value chain,” the document reads.

Final pricing will be determined by December 16, while trading commences the next day with the shares listed under stock code 3887.

Disclosure: HashKey Holdings Limited, through HashKey Capital, is one of 22 investors in an editorially independent Decrypt.

Hong Kong hub

The document also offers the first detailed look at how HashKey, already the largest licensed platform in Hong Kong, is positioning its business under the city’s new regime for retail and institutional crypto markets.

Hong Kong has spent the past two years tightening and clarifying its regulatory architecture as it positions itself as a licensed hub for digital asset activity.

Regulators approved new permissions for staking services in April, allowing SFC-supervised firms to offer staking under controlled conditions. It later imposed stricter custody requirements for licensed platforms.

The city also advanced stablecoin oversight, unveiling rules that reinforce U.S. dollar dominance in local issuance while setting out capital, disclosure, and governance thresholds for would-be issuers.

But these moves have also been shaped by Beijing’s eye. Mainland regulators moved in October to halt stablecoin ventures in the city from two of the country’s largest tech firms.

The result is a regime that welcomes regulated digital asset activity while imposing higher compliance expectations, a model that has become central to Hong Kong’s bid to attract institutional players and distinguish itself from unregulated offshore exchanges.

Under the hood

Still, HashKey frames its advantages around regulatory credibility, ecosystem reach, and technical depth.

It also highlights its status as an early, licensed digital assets operator in Asia, its security and compliance posture, and a product stack designed to reinforce network effects across trading, custody, staking, and tokenization.

It reported HK$29.0 billion (US$3.71 billion) in assets under staking and HK$1.7 billion (US$218 million) in real-world asset value, positioning it as the largest staking provider in Asia and eighth globally.

Revenue remains early-stage, but the business said it is shifting toward real-world financial assets and plans to monetize through gas fees accrued on HashKey Chain, a layer-2 network for RWAs, stablecoins, and institutional applications.

The group also reported HK$7.8 billion (US$998 million) in assets under management since inception, alongside venture and secondary fund businesses that it claims reflect early leadership in Asia’s digital asset investment sector.

While HashKey’s revenue grew sharply between 2022 and 2024, its operating costs expanded further, driving losses to almost double from HK$585.2 million (US$74.9 million) in 2022 to HK$1.19 billion (US$152.3 million) in 2024.

The company cites rising spending on research, marketing, and administrative functions, along with large equity-settled share-based payment expenses, as key drivers of that widening gap.

Adjusted losses narrowed in 2023 before rising again in 2024 and the first half of 2025, reflecting higher costs tied to its exchange business and a downturn in transaction-facilitation revenue.

Net loss improved to HK$506.7 million (US$64.9 million) in the first half of 2025, “mainly due to the decline in general and administrative expenses.”

Decrypt has reached out to HashKey for comment but has not yet received a response.

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Author: Vince Dioquino