Interactive Brokers opens Hong Kong retail crypto trading with OSL

Hong Kong clients will be able to purchase Bitcoin and Ethereum in their personal accounts.

Interactive Brokers, one of the largest brokerage firms in the world, has opened crypto trading for retail clients in Hong Kong.

According to the Nov28 announcement, the service is offered in conjunction with OSL, one of the first crypto exchanges to receive a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) in Hong Kong. “Interactive Brokers’ retail investors in Hong Kong now have immediate access to digital asset trading through a single unified platform powered by OSL,” developers wrote. 

Per its website, Hong Kong clients of Interactive Brokers can hold Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH) in their personal accounts alongside stocks, derivatives, commodities, forex, and other assets. Each trade is charged a commission equal to 0.20% to 0.30% of the transaction value.

Last week, Cointelegraph reported that Interactive Brokers had received a license for retail virtual asset trading in Hong Kong. However, the license only grants the firm to broker trades of Bitcoin and Ethereum at the moment. 

On Novembe 14, BC Technology Group, owned of the OSL exchange, announced it had received a $90 million equity investment from blockchain firm BGX. The firm had previously considered selling the OSL exchange for $1 billion Hong Kong dollars, or $128 million. 

Although Hong Kong was one of the first jurisdictions to issue licenses for cryptocurrency exchanges, momentum has been somewhat stifled by a series of exchange scandals. In September, JPEX, one of the region’s largest crypto exchanges, collapsed, leading to 66 arrests and an estimated 1.6 billion Hong Kong dollars ($205 million) in losses. On Nov 25, Hounax, another unlicensed crypto exchange in Hong Kong, reportedly scammed 145 residents out of 148 million HKD ($18.9 million) through an alleged Ponzi scheme.

Related: ​​Hong Kong authorities say 145 victims, $18.9M lost in Hounax scam