Hong Kong has outlined a plan to let retail investors trade digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), in a major step towards its goal of becoming a cryptocurrency hub. The move is part of a policy shift that contrasts with the ongoing crackdown in the US.

After a pseudonymous Twitter user put up a 5 Litecoin reward for anyone who could launch the Ordinals protocol on the LTC network, software engineer Anthony Guerrera launched just that on GitHub, after forking the GitHub repository for Bitcoin Ordinals.

Southeast Asian cryptocurrency trading platform Zipmex is planning to restart customer withdrawals once a deal signed with a venture capital firm last month is finalized.

 Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Hong Kong Plans to Let Retail Investors Trade Crypto
• Developer Brings Ordinals NFTs to Litecoin
• Crypto Exchange Zipmex to Reopen Withdrawals After Closing Rescue Deal
• Chart of the Week: Decline in BUSD Market Share on Binance

Hong Kong Plans to Let Retail Investors Trade Crypto

Hong Kong has outlined a plan to let retail investors trade digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), in a major step towards its goal of becoming a cryptocurrency hub. The move is part of a policy shift that contrasts with the ongoing crackdown in the US.

The plan would see individual investors be able to trade large-cap digital assets on exchanges licensed by the Securities and Futures Commission, providing safeguards such as knowledge tests, risk profiles, and reasonable exposure limits.

The regulator didn’t detail which large digital assets retail investors will be allowed to trade, but instead said the assets should be included in at least two investible indexes launched by independent providers.

A consultation period on the move will end on March 31, with the goal of allowing retail trading in a new licensing regime for cryptocurrency exchanges that’s due on June 1.

Hong Kong pivoted to a pro-cryptocurrency stance at the end of October, as part of its efforts to restore the city’s stance as a financial center.

Developer Brings Ordinals NFTs to Litecoin

After a pseudonymous Twitter user put up a 5 Litecoin reward for anyone who could launch the Ordinals protocol on the LTC network, software engineer Anthony Guerrera launched just that on GitHub, after forking the GitHub repository for Bitcoin Ordinals.

Ordinals is a protocol that assigns a unique and non-fungible number to each satoshi, the smallest denomination of a Bitcoin, allowing users to attach data such as images, smart contracts and more to Bitcoin transactions.

The Taproot soft fork in November 2021 enabled the technological applications of the Ordinal protocol, which launched Bitcoin Ordinals on January 21. It has since grown to the point that over 150,000 such NFTs have been launched on the Bitcoin network.

Litecoin was chosen as Ordinals can also work on it, due to its inclusion of technology found on Bitcoin, including the SegWit and Taproot soft forks.

Crypto Exchange Zipmex to Reopen Withdrawals After Closing Rescue Deal

Southeast Asian cryptocurrency trading platform Zipmex is planning to restart customer withdrawals once a deal signed with a venture capital firm last month is finalized.

According to an announcement, all eligible creditors must fill out a form with the amount owed by February 21, as the company’s scheme manager, investment firm KordaMentha, aims to finalize withdrawals by May 21, on the condition the investment deal closes.

Zipmex was one of several cryptocurrency firms that halted customer withdrawals after last year’s collapse of the Terra ecosystem.

The exchange is reportedly facing a probe from Thailand’s securities regulator over whether it was operating without permission.

Chart of the Week: Decline in BUSD Market Share on Binance

After the initial surge in Binance USD (BUSD) trading volumes on Binance, the market share of BUSD stablecoins trended downward from 43.3% to 25.7% on February 13. Earlier this month, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) ordered Paxos, the company minting BUSD, to stop issuing it.

This marks the lowest daily market share for BUSD since August 25, days before Binance implemented its auto-conversion of customers’ USDC, TUSD, and USDP into BUSD.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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