On September 26th, the largest global AI&Web3.0 investment summit "EDGE Summit" was officially opened, hosted by Vertex Labs. The opening ceremony of the summit was addressed by former Deputy Director of Innovation and Technology Bureau, Zhong Weiqiang, who gave a speech on "Hong Kong Investment and Cross-border Data Policy Sharing". He mentioned that "Hong Kong has been committed to innovation in investing in technology, digital banking, virtual assets, and cross-border investment services. We aim to develop the digital economy and lead in the development of Web3.0 and artificial intelligence."

Former Deputy Director of Innovation and Technology Bureau, Chung Wai Keung, delivered the opening speech.

During the summit, BlockBeats had a conversation with former Deputy Director of Innovation and Technology Bureau, Chung Wai Keung, to gain a deeper understanding of his thoughts and perspectives on Web3.0 in Hong Kong.

In January 2016, Zhong Weiqiang was appointed as the Deputy Director of the Innovation and Technology Bureau by the government, and took office on March 1 of the same year. As an expert in the information technology industry, Zhong Weiqiang is very active in the industry and has rich administrative experience, which is why he was invited by Director Yang Weixiong. Earlier, Zhong Weiqiang was involved in information technology management and entrepreneurial development work, and had worked for several technology companies. In March 2004, he joined Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, responsible for promoting information technology infrastructure and nurturing entrepreneurs, and was promoted to Technical Director when he left in February 2016.

Before assuming the position of Deputy Commissioner for Innovation and Technology, Chung Wai Keung worked with Commissioner Yang Wei Hung for many years at Cyberport. Chung's technical background and industry image can play a positive role in the work of the Innovation and Technology Bureau. In August 2017, Chung Wai Keung was reappointed by the new government and continued his term as Deputy Commissioner on the 2nd of the same month.

BlockBeats: Please introduce yourself first and what have you been doing recently?

Zhong Weiqiang: I am a native Hong Konger and have worked in Beijing and the United States for Microsoft. After leaving Microsoft, I started my own business. However, I found it not so interesting and worked for government and public institutions for more than ten years. In recent years, I have had the idea of not wanting to retire and still have the motivation to continue entrepreneurship, so I returned to the market.

Actually, there are many excellent companies in Hong Kong, but they are not very familiar with other cities in mainland China. I used to work more in Beijing and other parts of mainland China, so for more than ten years, I have been traveling outwards. Before entering the government, I was always involved in the field of innovation and technology, as well as financing. Now, as a consultant, I help different companies find market directions and sources.

BlockBeats: When did you first come into contact with the concepts of blockchain and Web3.0?

钟伟强: It was a long time ago, I was still working at Cyberport and witnessed the very early Consensys conference. At that time, Bitcoin was only worth less than 300 US dollars. So I am one of the early adopters and as an IT person, I am bound to come across Bitcoin. However, until today, I still feel that it is not secure enough to put a lot of assets in virtual currency because there are many hackers and it is easy to be stolen.

香港 Web3.0，和新加坡没有可比性

Hong Kong's Web3.0 cannot be compared to Singapore's.

In mid-September, Vitalik Buterin spoke at Token 2049 in Singapore, stating that although Hong Kong has turned towards a crypto-friendly stance since the end of last year, cryptocurrency projects should consider the stability of its friendly policies when setting up offices in Hong Kong. Subsequently, Hong Kong Legislative Council member Wu Jiezhuang responded to the issue of "Vitalik stating that project parties seeking development in Hong Kong should consider the sustainability of local policies". He said that he respected Vitalik's right to speak, but at the same time believed that he did not understand the specific situation in Hong Kong. He believed that "Hong Kong's policies and laws will not change overnight, and all relevant strategies and regulations have undergone significant social consensus and complete procedures, so I can tell Mr. Vitalik that Hong Kong's policies are very stable."

BlockBeats: Recently, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin spoke at a conference in Singapore and suggested that projects seeking to develop in Hong Kong should consider the sustainability of local policies. What is your opinion on this matter?

Zhong Weiqiang: Vitalik actually came to Hong Kong very early. I think we in Hong Kong have already thought very clearly about what can be done and what cannot be done, just like the internet. As I mentioned earlier, I experienced the internet bubble of Web 1.0, and there were some bad actors who were causing chaos in the market. But if you are someone who is building and creating a comprehensive architecture, Hong Kong will not forget you.

The strengths of Hong Kong are free-flow of talents, free-flow of capital, and free-flow of information. These are our best assets, allowing for easy movement in and out. However, when it comes to transferring large amounts of money out of Singapore, Japan, or South Korea, is it as easy as it is in Hong Kong? Which country or region in Southeast Asia can achieve free-flow of capital like Hong Kong's financial center? Only Hong Kong can do it, making it a beautiful place in my opinion.

BlockBeats: However, some people now say that Hong Kong has released friendly policies for a long time and has issued some laws, but it seems that it still cannot compare with Singapore, such as the number of guests attending or the level of excitement. Some people think that Singapore is more lively than Hong Kong. What do you think?

Zhong Weiqiang: Really? I don't agree. My friend went for just one day and left immediately. They thought it would be lively and they could talk about a lot of things, but in the end, they didn't. Token 2049 is expensive for everything, hotels, dining, everything is expensive, just one word - expensive. But compared to Hong Kong, it's still better because we are pegged to the US dollar. Singapore is not pegged to the US dollar, it fluctuates all the time, so it can be expensive. This is a capacity issue, we can still overflow to Shenzhen and other places. In fact, many people come from Shenzhen today, they may not necessarily live in Hong Kong, but it's not possible in Singapore. So this volume issue, and many other issues, such as tax issues, Hong Kong's tax is relatively low and very transparent.

BlockBeats: For example, in the next five years, how will Singapore compare to Hong Kong?

Zhong Weiqiang: I don't think there's any comparison. We are so close to the mainland, and Singapore is four hours away by flight, so there's no comparison. Hong Kong is a financial center, and I think this issue has been made very clear, especially in recent years with a very clear positioning.

Many times in the past, people used to say that Shanghai would surpass Hong Kong, Shenzhen would surpass Hong Kong, Guangzhou would surpass Hong Kong. Who is saying that now? The positioning of Hong Kong people is very important. We are an international window. So we have been working very hard, including the government and many people who have flown in from all over the world. This forum is an international event that we strongly support. Look at the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong in January, where else in Singapore can you find such a large conference?

But I don't want to compare with them because it's not comparable. There is no comparability because Singapore is a country and we Hong Kong is a city in China. However, we are an international financial center. Recently, our problem is due to our peg to the US dollar. The interest rate is high, but it has already reached the "peak". Therefore, it must be reduced in the future.

BlockBeats: Is it possible for Hong Kong to create its own stablecoin, a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin?

Zhong Weiqiang: We have a stablecoin called "e-HKD", which is similar to e-CNY and is basically the same as Hong Kong dollars. However, it is a term currency that was previously only used by banks, but now it is available for use by the general public.

Recently, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology conducted a one-week e-HKD test with HSBC. There wasn't much discussion because it's still in the testing phase. However, there is indeed a demand for this, and the roadmap is very clear.

e-HKD has different scenarios for testing, it is not a large-scale test like in mainland China. In mainland China, testing may involve B2B and B2C scenarios, but we use application scenarios to test. The campus is a very good scenario, and we have partnered with HSBC to conduct testing.

JPEX Incident and Hong Kong Regulation

On September 15th, Bitrace's on-chain fund audit showed that the virtual trading platform JPEX's related addresses suffered from severe fund contamination, with over 190 million risky USDT flowing into one of its hot wallet recharge addresses in the past 20 months. According to Hong Kong media am730, the Hong Kong police confirmed to the media that they have received a notice from the Securities and Futures Commission and the Commercial Crime Bureau is investigating whether the JPEX case involves criminal elements. Previously, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong had issued a warning stating that JPEX is an unregulated virtual trading platform.

Later, JPEX issued a statement stating that third-party market makers on the platform had temporarily locked funds due to negative news. On September 19th, the Hong Kong police stated at a briefing on the JPEX case that they had received 1,641 reports claiming that they were unable to withdraw assets from JPEX and suspected fraud, involving approximately HKD 1.2 billion.

BlockBeats: What's your take on the Hong Kong JPEX incident?

Zhong Weiqiang: There are scams at any time, such as the Y2K incident in 2000. Due to design issues in the computer program's date expression, the computer would misread some dates after 2000, causing computer problems due to errors. At that time, computer programs commonly used 6-digit numbers to store time, displaying only the last two digits after four digits. However, this caused computer systems to become chaotic, making it impossible to distinguish between 2000 and 1900, leading to misreading problems.

But at that time, there were really people on the street looking for sprays that could kill millennium bugs, and they were deceived into buying insecticide sprays. They didn't understand that millennium bugs were a computer problem.

BlockBeats: As a citizen or user, how can one determine if this is a scam?

Zhong Weiqiang: Because I am a former official, the content I am talking about is only for reference. It is actually very limited for citizens to judge whether it is a scam. It still depends on regulation, so I think regulation is a good thing. Regulation can bring more transparency to the market. Let me give an example of a casino. If there is an underground casino and a legal casino, where would you go to gamble? You would go to the latter, because if you win, they will definitely give you the money, just like the Hong Kong Jockey Club. We are legal, and if you buy a winning horse, you can win money, which is very transparent. If you buy a horse among some friends as they say, and he doesn't pay you, it is also a scam.

As an open and transparent market, Hong Kong must have a good approach to handle virtual currencies, tokenization, and NFTs. It is certain that these transactions will result in losses, and if they do not, it will cause too much trouble for everyone to bear. As an international financial center, we must have a better way to handle these matters.

However, there are still some people who exploit legal loopholes. During the policy window of the past two or three months, they have come out and disrupted the market, which has had a significant impact on many legitimate businesses. For example, several license holders are legitimate, which is not good for true investors.

During this period, it's just like the previous chapters. Hong Kong banks had many previous chapters in the 70s and 80s. Every technology and every business activity can be done legally if policies are well-implemented. However, it's not good if the regulations are too strict, right?

However, we also know that it's not good to be too strict. It's important to strike a balance, and a good balance is crucial.

BlockBeats: I know you are also helping some projects now. Is it difficult for them to obtain a license in Hong Kong?

BlockBeats: But now the NFT and GameFi markets are not particularly good, what do you think?

Zhong Weiqiang: In the long run, it seems like the era of Internet 1.0, but there is no so-called commercial behavior behind it, and it is not clear how to make money, just using a lot of money. But later there was BAT, so there is still a process, and now we are experiencing this process, but I estimate that this cycle is relatively short, because the technology cycle is getting shorter and shorter, and each cycle will be faster. Unlike AI, which is moving very fast, last year it was still talking about many concepts, but this year AI has emerged. So I think this field is still very good for me to do technology, because I find that there are many opportunities.

BlockBeats: AI will be of great help to the development of Web3.0 if it is developed, right?

BlockBeats: What do you think of Wordcoin? Do you think there is a possibility for someone like Sam in Hong Kong who can combine AI with Crypto Web3.0?

BlockBeats: I also want to know your opinion on FTX, after all, FTX also started in Hong Kong.

According to a report by Hong Kong Economic Times, these four institutions are HKVAX, HKBitEx, Hong Kong BGE Limited, and Victory Fintech Company Limited, all of which are from Hong Kong.

Related reading: "What's the background of the four newly licensed cryptocurrency trading platforms confirmed by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission?"

BlockBeats: So do you have a very positive outlook on the current cryptocurrency market?

钟伟强: Actually, I am optimistic about two fields in general, one is the environmental protection technology field, and the other is Web3.0. Environmental protection is definitely the future and very important for our next generation. Additionally, there is financial technology, which includes the new payment systems for the next generation.

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