Hong Kong’s first licensed crypto exchange HashKey has caught the attention of market observers with Bitcoin’s trading volume reaching $3.48 billion in the past 24 hours and the total trading volume hitting $4.21 billion. This significant increase in attention has put HashKey in close competition with industry giant Binance.
The notable increase in HashKey’s trading volume has raised suspicions of wash trading among market makers. Wash trading essentially consists of buy and sell orders that cancel each other out and have no actual commercial value.
The significant increase in trading volumes has raised questions about the legitimacy of these activities and compliance with crypto regulations set by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong. Furthermore, analyses conducted by crypto price and data provider CoinGecko have given HashKey unreliable trust scores for its BTC/USD and ETH/USD trading pairs.
In August, HashKey became the first crypto exchange in Hong Kong to obtain a license to offer crypto trading to individual investors. The SFC also granted a license this year in November to Swiss crypto bank SEBA to provide various crypto-related services to clients in the region.
Livio Weng, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of HashKey, addressed the unexpected and abnormal transactions on the platform during an event. Weng emphasized their commitment to ensuring the secure operation of the platform and stated that any fraud or manipulation would be thoroughly investigated and appropriate measures would be taken if such activities are detected, highlighting their commitment to maintaining a fair and transparent trading environment.