On 29th May, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) met with representatives from the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) to discuss cooperation on virtual asset regulations and developments. The bilateral meeting, hosted in Abu Dhabi, was for discussing financial infrastructure and settlement of cross-border trade between the two countries. The Hong Kong and UAE central banks is all set to collaborate on developing regulations for cryptocurrencies and financial technology.

One of the areas of cooperation is Project mBridge, which is testing cross-border payments using a custom-built common platform that uses distributed ledger technology (DLT). The platform allows multiple central banks to issue and exchange their own central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), all while ensuring compliance with legal requirements.

The said partnership comes in the backdrop of Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) allowing virtual asset service providers (VASPs) to serve Hong Kong's retail investors from 1st June onwards. Following the announcement, cryptocurrency exchanges like CoinEx, Huobi and OKX filed applications for dedicated crypto trading services in Hong Kong.