Bitcoin climbs back above $27,000 after Hong Kong greenlights some retail crypto trading

Cryptocurrency prices moved higher connected Tuesday aft Hong Kong's securities regulator announced it volition let retail trading of definite crypto assets starting June 1.

Bitcoin roseate 1.7% to $27,293.64, according to Coin Metrics. The largest cryptocurrency has been trading successful a tiny scope passim May, struggling to interruption meaningfully supra $30,000 but staying supra $25,000. Ether precocious much than 2% to $1,855.28.

Late Monday night, Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission said it would let retail investors to commercialized definite crypto assets opening adjacent period connected registered trading platforms. The determination was wide expected, with the announcement marking the end of a petition for nationalist comment it enactment retired successful February connected its projected regulatory requirements astir retail trading successful crypto.

The caller guidelines are portion of a broader effort of Hong Kong's to go a planetary crypto hub. That ambition is successful crisp opposition with China, which banned crypto trading successful 2021, arsenic good arsenic the U.S. wherever the regulatory stance toward crypto has turned hostile since the illness of FTX.

"This quality doesn't mean that a flood of retail buying powerfulness volition participate the marketplace astatine the opening of June. … We could spot immoderate measurement uptick successful June, however," said Noelle Acheson, economist and writer of the "Crypto is Macro Now" newsletter.

Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission has already licensed 2 integer plus platforms, OSL and Hash Blockchain, and it's apt immoderate are already actively trading offshore, Acheson said.

Owen Lau, an expert astatine Oppenheimer, called Hong Kong "pretty aggressive" for trying to go a crypto hub.

"It volition proceed to seizure the attraction of the assemblage and pull much firms to acceptable up offices successful Hong Kong," helium said. "It is hard to gauge the nonstop interaction but it has a semipermanent effect connected superior travel and endowment movement."

Both crypto assets person struggled to marque meaningful moves successful either absorption successful May. While the market has been lacking successful large catalysts and investors are intimately watching the indebtedness ceiling negotiations, trading has been comparatively inactive and bitcoin has returned to behaving similar a hazard asset.