Futu has been approved to launch virtual asset trading financing services to eligible clients in Hong Kong.

CoinFeed reported on June 11 that Futu Securities has officially received approval from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) to upgrade its Type 1 (Securities Trading) service, launching virtual asset trading financing services to eligible clients in Hong Kong. It is understood that the collateral for this service must be traditional securities. Previously, credit lines obtained through traditional securities margin financing could not be used for cryptocurrency trading, but this has now been relaxed to allow their use. Regarding margin financing using virtual assets directly as collateral, although the SFC's circular in February relaxed the use of virtual assets as collateral, it also mentioned that prior to the revision of capital requirements, virtual asset collateral would be subject to a 100% deduction under the Securities and Futures (Financial Resources) Rules. This is expected to pose a challenge to the industry's capital efficiency in practice.