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Bitcoin Asia in Hong Kong attracts major interest from mainland as attendees look to top market where crypto is banned

  • Bitcoin Asia attracted more than 5,500 people, about half of whom came from the mainland, organisers estimated
  • Interest in bitcoin-related technologies has exploded amid a price surge this year, and supportive Hong Kong policies like ETFs have driven interest in the city

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Visitors attend the Bitcoin Asia conference in Hong Kong on May 9, 2024. Photo: AFP
Xinmei ShenandMatt Haldane

The Bitcoin Asia conference in Hong Kong this year drew a strong crowd from mainland China, according to organisers, but it is a different, smaller mix of people than the Bitcoin Conference is used to seeing in the US.

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The conference, held on Thursday and Friday, had about 5,500 attendees confirmed ahead of the show, not accounting for door registrations, said David Bailey, co-founder and CEO of BTC Inc, which runs the Bitcoin Conference and owns Bitcoin Magazine. Without having data at hand, Bailey estimated that about half of the attendees were from mainland China, where interest in the conference was strong owing to Hong Kong’s recent launch of spot bitcoin and ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and an explosion in development of layer 2 projects.
Many bitcoin enthusiasts also flew in from other countries for the event. Some in the community expressed hope that the city’s supportive policies for the cryptocurrency industry could eventually be an avenue to tapping investors on the mainland, where commercial crypto trading is banned. Several attendees also suggested that they see Hong Kong’s push to become a crypto hub as tacit support from Beijing.

“I think the ETFs were kind of an admission that bitcoin is here to stay,” Bailey said. “There’s no way that Hong Kong just accidentally stumbled into launching an ETF … It wasn’t random.”

David Bailey, co-founder and CEO of BTC Inc, gives opening remarks at Bitcoin Asia in Hong Kong on May 9, 2024. Photo: Matt Haldane
David Bailey, co-founder and CEO of BTC Inc, gives opening remarks at Bitcoin Asia in Hong Kong on May 9, 2024. Photo: Matt Haldane

Cryptocurrency investors also applauded Hong Kong’s new ETFs, as they accept in-kind subscriptions, which allows purchases made with bitcoin and ether. This feature is “very important”, according to Bailey, because crypto investors can use the ETF shares as collaterals for loans. Managers of Hong Kong’s crypto ETFs Harvest Global and ChinaAMC have both said that they are working on pushing ahead with the collateralisation of their ETF products in the city.

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