Exclusive | Hong Kong official, lawmaker pull out of Bitcoin Asia 2025 featuring Eric Trump
Analyst says ‘request’ was made not to interact with US president’s son to avoid impression of ‘cooperating with or flattering’ Donald Trump
A senior Hong Kong official and a lawmaker have withdrawn from a Bitcoin Asia conference where Eric Trump, son of United States President Donald Trump, will attend, with sources confirming they were advised not to interact with the American businessman.
A check by the Post on the conference’s website on Wednesday found that Eric Yip Chee-hang, executive director of the city’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), had been removed from the list of keynote speakers for the forum taking place between August 28 and 29.
Also removed from the list was legislator Johnny Ng Kit-chong, who is a technology entrepreneur.
“There is a request to lawmakers, asking them not to attend the forum that also features Trump’s son,” a source familiar with the matter said. “And I think we all understood the reason.”
The “request” was confirmed by a second source, who described it as “advice”, though neither disclosed who had issued it.
Archived versions of the website show that both Yip’s and Ng’s names were still listed on July 14, following conference organiser BTC Inc’s announcement on July 8 that Eric Trump would discuss bitcoin’s “long-term potential” and its impact on global finance, as well as “how Asia is shaping the future of bitcoin adoption”.