Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced on October 26 that it has approved secondary trading for two existing authorised tokenised money-market funds on a licensed virtual-asset platform. The products are ChinaAMC’s Hong Kong-dollar and US-dollar digital money-market funds, with trading available around the clock.
The approval allows investors to trade fund interests with one another in a regulated secondary-market environment outside the usual dealing window. Secondary trading means a buyer and seller can exchange existing units without every transaction requiring a subscription or redemption directly with the fund, which can make positions easier to move when the underlying money markets are closed.
Regulatory framework and scope
The SFC introduced a pilot framework in April 2026 covering the operation of this trading channel, fair pricing, liquidity provision and disclosures. The approval applies to specified products within that framework and should not be read as blanket permission for all tokenised investments to trade continuously.
The regulator says it will monitor trading and consider whether to expand eligible products. The decision ties new market activity to existing authorised funds and licensed trading platforms rather than treating every token as interchangeable.
Market risks remain
A quoted secondary-market price may diverge from the fund’s net asset value, and sufficient liquidity depends on active buyers, sellers and market makers. A blockchain token does not remove these familiar market risks, even if transfers occur very quickly.
For asset managers, around-the-clock access creates opportunities and new obligations. Investors in different time zones may want to rebalance cash products at weekends, while platforms must continue surveillance, reference pricing and customer protection beyond exchange opening hours. Settlement arrangements are as important as the existence of a 24-hour order book.
What to watch
The practical measures to watch are spreads, price deviations, market depth, volume and evidence that redemption mechanisms can support investor confidence. The decision is a significant Hong Kong experiment in regulated tokenisation, but it is best evaluated as a defined market-structure pilot rather than proof that every mutual fund can instantly become a liquid digital token.
Market watchers should also avoid treating a regulator’s headline as a substitute for terms and conditions. Tokens, shares and regulated service agreements create different rights, even when they coexist in one wallet or platform. A reliable follow-up should ask which entity is responsible, what a holder can actually redeem or transfer, and whether the claimed advantages appear in live activity.
