The Solana Company, a publicly traded organization that holds 2.2 million SOL valued at nearly $197 million, is looking to expand its tokenization services in Hong Kong, according to an interview with chairman and CEO Joseph Chee reported by SCMP. The move comes as the city has identified tokenization as a key area of fintech development.
Hong Kong as a strategic base
Chee described the Asia-Pacific region as the “biggest opportunity for Solana.” The Solana Company, which operates as a Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) for Solana, focuses on accumulating and maximizing its SOL per-share numbers by leveraging capital markets and blockchain activity. It now plans to build infrastructure and provide tokenization services as more companies in Hong Kong seek advice on these processes.
The company was designated as a strategic enterprise by the Hong Kong Government’s Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises (OASES) as part of its seventh batch of strategic enterprises. At the time, Chee said Hong Kong would become “the base from which we will advise institutions and build infrastructure across the region,” and that the company looked forward to “exploring how digital asset infrastructure can contribute to Hong Kong’s financial institutions.”
Tokenization market still nascent
While Hong Kong’s tokenization journey is just starting, regulators have already greenlit 17 tokenized retail products with assets under management calculated at $1.3 billion, up over a third from last year. Chee stressed that while Hong Kong is growing, the U.S. leads the industry and is “moving a lot faster,” with regulators even approving venues for stock tokenization.
“A lot of major financial institutions in Hong Kong are just starting to think about or initiate a tokenization project,” Chee assessed. He believes the company might assess demand for these services in six months.
Potential team of 30
If demand holds and no large local teams rise to satisfy it, the company aims to grow its headcount to 30 and build a local team to offer tokenization services to local banks.
As part of its digital assets push, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has already approved two companies, HSBC and Anchorpoint, to launch Hong Kong dollar stablecoins, with the latter planning to offer native token issuance and redemption on the Solana blockchain.
