A recent survey has highlighted that only 47% of retail cryptocurrency investors in Hong Kong are informed about the Virtual Asset Trading Platform Regulatory Regime.

This legislation was introduced in June with the primary aim of safeguarding the interests of retail investors in digital assets within the region. This information was unveiled in a report dated October 11 by the Investor and Financial Education Council (IFEC) of Hong Kong.

The survey conducted by IFEC also shed light on the investment patterns of Hong Kong residents. It was found that nearly 25% of Hong Kong adults aged between 18 to 29 have ventured into cryptocurrency investments in the past year.

This figure represents a threefold increase from the demographic average and is a significant leap from 2019, where only 3% of individuals in this age group reported such investments.

However, despite the growing interest in cryptocurrencies, traditional investment avenues remain the top choice for most Hong Kong residents.

A whopping 96% of respondents expressed their preference for stocks, while mutual funds and trusts were favored by 24%. Bonds followed closely, garnering interest from 18% of those surveyed.

Interestingly, the survey, which included 1,000 respondents aged between 18 and 69, revealed that around three-quarters of them viewed “short-term profits” as the primary motivation behind their cryptocurrency investments. This was closely tied with the pervasive “fear of missing out” sentiment.

In response to the survey results, IFEC general manager, Dora Li, emphasized the importance of investor education. She stated, “Investors should understand the product characteristics and related risks before investing, in order to align their choices with their financial goals and risk tolerance level.” Echoing her sentiments, Eric Chui, the head of the Department of Applied Social Sciences at PolyU, advised virtual asset investors to act more deliberately and rationally.

He further stressed the need for enhancing financial literacy and gathering high-quality market information to steer clear of irrational investment behaviors and biases.

The backdrop to this survey is the legalization of retail crypto trading for licensed exchanges in Hong Kong that took place in June. However, this period also witnessed the unfolding of the largest Ponzi scheme in Hong Kong’s history, the $166 million JPEX crypto exchange scandal, which sent shockwaves through the Special Administrative Region of China.

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Filed under: Bitcoin - @ October 15, 2023 9:22 am