Real-time Update | What Are the Key Highlights of the Hong Kong Fintech Week 2025 Conference?

From November 3 to 7, FinTech Week 2025 was grandly held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. As Asia's leading financial technology event, Hong Kong FinTech Week celebrated its tenth anniversary. This year, the conference will further strengthen its international influence, creating a larger global stage, focusing on and exploring core areas such as artificial intelligence, Web3, blockchain, digital payments, digital banking, driving financial technology innovation.

Key officials such as Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, Financial Secretary Paul Chan, Deputy Governor of the People's Bank of China Le Le, will attend and deliver speeches; industry leaders such as Tencent Vice President Lin Haifeng, Ant Group Chairman Eric Jing, Binance CEO Richard Teng, Meitu Founder Cai Wensheng, will also take the stage as guest speakers. BlockBeats reporters will provide live coverage from the scene, here are the latest developments:

Standard Chartered Bank CEO: All Transactions Will Ultimately Settle on Blockchain

On November 3, Standard Chartered Bank CEO Bill Winters stated at the Hong Kong Fintech Week 2025 that the bank and the Hong Kong SAR leadership both believe that all transactions will ultimately settle on the blockchain, and all currencies will be digitized.

Paul Chan: Stablecoins Reject Investment or Speculation, License Approvals Only for Applicants with Robust Real Use Cases

On November 3, Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan stated at Hong Kong Fintech Week 2025 that Hong Kong's financial regulators have a dual mission of regulating and promoting market development. While encouraging innovation, it must also ensure the true applicability of digital asset regulation, investor protection, and financial stability. Whether for digital asset exchanges or stablecoins, we adhere to the same activities, the same risks, and the same regulatory principles. In particular, our regulatory approach to stablecoins is clear: stablecoins are not for investment or speculation but to promote cost reduction, cross-border transactions, and real economic activities. This is why under the licensing regime, approval of stablecoin licenses is only for applicants with a sustainable and robust business model and real use cases.

Eric Jing: Future AI Agents Will Face Customers, AI and Blockchain Will Reshape Financial Services

On November 3, Ant Group Chairman Eric Jing stated at Hong Kong Fintech Week 2025 that AI and blockchain will reshape financial services. The financial services industry is a data-rich and language-intensive industry. The service of financial products is, in fact, abstract, complex, and credit-based, heavily reliant on language descriptions for communication and delivery. This phenomenon covers various areas in the finance sector from the backend to customer-facing interfaces. Therefore, I expect that it may be necessary to assign a dedicated account manager to each customer, which will be taken on by an AI agent to answer questions, resolve issues, and provide users with personalized and cost-effective advice. This is actually a multi-agent system, with an agenda system, driven by AI technology, and it is a short-term change that we can expect in the financial sector.

Furthermore, tokenization driven by blockchain technology can convert various assets into on-chain tokens, allowing assets to be transacted across institutions and markets in a very transparent and trustworthy manner. We can expect a new payment landscape, truly achieving real-time global payments, which will benefit global trade and enhance settlement efficiency. This shift will bring about more regulated innovative sectors and increased participation from regulatory agencies, as transactions on the blockchain begin to shift from speculation to value exchange, driving changes in financial services.

Lu Lei: Exploring New Cross-Border Payment Solutions Using Digital Currency, Building a Dual Platform of Blockchain and Digital Assets

On November 3, Lu Lei, Deputy Governor of the People's Bank of China, stated at Hong Kong Fintechweek 2025 that looking ahead, digital currency will be utilized to explore new cross-border payment solutions. The principles of non-loss, compliance, and interoperability have become the fundamental principles of the legal digital currency infrastructure. The People's Bank of China is actively engaging with various parties to explore open, inclusive, and innovative cross-border payment solutions, providing impetus for the high-quality development of the digital economy.

First, to promote multilateral central bank digital currency bridge cooperation to explore a new paradigm for cross-border payments. The People's Bank of China and several monetary authorities like the Hong Kong Monetary Authority are collectively exploring and have established a multilateral cooperation model based on the principle of equal governance under central bank agreements and blockchain architecture. This model connects various economic payment systems and legal digital currency systems to achieve multi-currency instant cross-border payments.

Second, relying on the digital RMB cross-border payment platform to provide solutions for central bank digital currency cross-border payment cooperation. The People's Bank of China offers a bilateral cooperation model based on the digital RMB cross-border payment platform, flexibly supporting cross-border interconnection with various monetary authority systems to enjoy an intelligent cross-border consumer trade and investment and financing digital experience.

Third, building a dual platform of blockchain and digital assets to activate a new engine for the Internet of Value. The People's Bank of China has launched the Digital RMB Blockchain Service Platform and Digital Asset Platform. Through the interconnection of these two platforms, under the premise of homogeneous regulatory risk control, it explores asset digitization innovations conducive to enhancing regulatory efficiency and transparency, improving value circulation efficiency, and promoting the efficient circulation and optimized allocation of economic factors to empower the Internet of Value.

John Lee: Hong Kong Encourages More Investors to Enter the FinTech Field, Accelerating Innovation and Technological Transformation

On November 3, John Lee, Chief Executive of Hong Kong, stated in the opening speech at Hong Kong Fintechweek 2025 that Hong Kong currently has over 1200 FinTech companies, a 10% increase from last year, with the total revenue of the Hong Kong FinTech industry expected to exceed $600 billion by 2032, with an annual growth rate exceeding 28%. The fundraising scale of IPOs in Hong Kong in the first nine months of this year has exceeded $23 billion. The Hong Kong Capital Investment Entrant Scheme will be relaxed to encourage more investors to enter the FinTech field, and Hong Kong is also exploring tokenization in conventional finance, while applying regulatory sandboxes to promote innovation and prudent risk management. Hong Kong is also accelerating innovation and technological transformation, focusing on key areas such as artificial intelligence, life and health sciences, and new energy, with the goal of assisting emerging industries in achieving scaled development and prosperity.