ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, the Hong Kong government has released its first policy guidelines for the application of artificial intelligence in the financial sector and proposed an extension of the tax incentive program for virtual assets. The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Christopher Hui, stated that the relevant tax incentive bill will be submitted to the Legislative Council by the end of the year.These policy guidelines provide a unified framework for Hong Kong's regulatory agencies to formulate AI policies, aiming to regulate the development of AI applications in the financial sector. Although Hong Kong is actively promoting AI policy development, mainstream AI tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini are still not available for use in Hong Kong.

ChainCatcher news, according to Unchained, Saga founder Rebecca Liao stated that the "Web3 Financial Compensation Report" shows that women in the Web3 finance sector earn an average of 46% less than men, a gap significantly higher than the 39% (U.S.) and 28% (U.K.) in Web2 finance.In 2024, over 90% of blockchain venture capital funding is directed towards male-dominated projects, and in 2023, women held only 26% of positions in the crypto industry, with only 6% in leadership roles.Although an earlier report from Pantera indicated that women in the crypto field earned 14.6% more than men, this study also showed that women in the industry had an average experience level of 5.3 years, compared to 4.5 years for men.Rebecca Liao stated that these two studies do not present a contradictory picture but rather emphasize the fact found by McKinsey in its 2023 Women in the Workforce report: women are not hindered by a lack of opportunities for C-suite promotions, but rather face a "leakage." This means that women progress from junior to mid-level positions at a slower rate than men, thereby hindering their chances of advancing to senior levels.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, based on a report from the Chicago Fed, the current state of the financial industry is the most accommodative since November 2021, which may be beneficial for the development of Bitcoin.

ChainCatcher News, a survey by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) shows that 55% of American Gen Z prefer to invest in cryptocurrencies. Gen Z prefers managing their finances on-chain rather than online. They find digital banking platforms clunky and opaque. Gen Z prefers to manage their finances on-chain through decentralized financial applications and digital dollar stablecoins.It is reported that Gen Z refers to those born between 1997 and 2012, currently aged 12 to 27.

ChainCatcher news, Hong Kong's DAB Legislative Council member Chan Chung-nee wrote an article titled "Empowering the Application Development of Web 3.0 in the Financial Industry," in which he pointed out that the Hong Kong government must vigorously develop Web 3.0 infrastructure that supports the long-term development of Web 3.0.Hong Kong must actively guide the exploration of innovative combinations of Web 3.0 and traditional finance, such as data connectivity between government departments and banks, traditional financial payments and settlements, personal and corporate credit businesses, supply chain finance, etc., to promote the standardization of asset on-chain protocols, and to timely formulate and implement a legal system for the circulation of RWA tokens, facilitating seamless integration, data sharing, and asset transfer between the traditional finance and virtual asset ecosystems.Given the current shortcomings of mainstream public blockchain platforms in terms of privacy protection, Hong Kong should support the research and development of foundational blockchain platforms that are secure, privacy-protecting, efficient, low-cost, energy-saving, compliant, modular, and globally oriented. More resources and technology should be invested to encourage scientific research and innovation, and policies and regulations should be formulated to support the development of blockchain technology.

ChainCatcher news, at the welcome dinner of the Global Prosperity Summit 2024 held in Hong Kong on May 13, Mr. Wu Jihan, co-founder of Matrixport, and Mr. John Lee, Chief Executive of Hong Kong, exchanged views on the recent development of the global digital asset industry and the demonstration value brought by the regulatory implementation in Hong Kong for global digital asset regulation. They expressed that the company will continue to increase its investment in Hong Kong, leveraging the advantages of financial talent and ecosystem in the region.The Chief Executive expressed encouragement for Matrixport's development of digital asset business in Hong Kong, emphasizing that Hong Kong will continue to build a more comprehensive digital asset ecosystem and attract more creative and competitive digital asset companies to grow and thrive in Hong Kong.

ChainCatcher news, the CEO of the Securities and Futures Commission, Ashley Alder, delivered a speech at the Greenwich Economic Forum (Hong Kong). She stated that building a responsible and sustainable Web3 ecosystem in Hong Kong is crucial for supporting the development of the financial industry. Technology is changing people's lives, and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) will bring transformation to financial services. Tokenization can promote financial inclusion, as well as enhance industry efficiency and reduce costs.She pointed out that the SFC believes that "innovation" and "regulation" should complement each other. The regulator's responsibility is to provide a clear, certain, and consistent framework for the market to expand use cases. Ashley Alder also encouraged the industry to actively test use cases. If the financial market is to reach new heights, traditional finance should embrace responsible innovation, and she urged the industry: the future is at hand, and now is the critical moment to seize new opportunities.

ChainCatcher News, major financial firms in the U.S. are jointly exploring shared ledger technology, with the Innovation Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York serving as a technology observer.It is understood that major financial services companies such as Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, Mastercard, SWIFT, and Deloitte are jointly exploring shared ledger technology by simulating multi-asset transactions in U.S. dollars. The research project is named "Regulatory Settlement Network (RSN) Proof of Concept (PoC)," which will explore the potential of bringing commercial bank money, wholesale central bank money, and securities such as U.S. Treasury bonds into a common regulatory space. As of now, participants in the project have not committed to any future research phases after the completion of the first phase.

ChainCatcher message, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced that it is collaborating with the financial industry to expand the asset tokenization program and enhance foundational capabilities to drive the scalable development of the tokenization market. These expansions under the "Project Guardian" will catalyze institutional adoption of digital assets, aiming to unlock liquidity, open investment opportunities, and improve the efficiency of financial markets.It is reported that an industry group consisting of 17 financial institutions from "Project Guardian" has launched five industry pilot projects to test promising asset tokenization use cases, which are expected to provide integration across the entire capital market value chain, including listing, distribution, trading, settlement, and asset servicing.

ChainCatcher news, the public securities trading platform OTC Markets revealed during its earnings call that it received approval from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) on May 5 to provide services for securities-like digital assets. OTC Markets President and CEO Cromwell Coulson stated that this approval allows broker-dealers to trade digital asset securities on its OTC Link ATS.OTC Markets provides a trading platform for public securities, including many smaller banks and international companies, as well as Grayscale's Bitcoin and Ethereum trust funds. (source link)