Hong Kong Stock Exchange Tightens Scrutiny on Crypto Hoarding Vehicles: Report

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) has tightened listing rules for at least five companies seeking to shift to core crypto treasuries or ￰0￱ exchange group has questioned their compliance with regulations prohibiting large liquid holdings, sources told Bloomberg . Further, the HKEX has reiterated that all listing applicants must operate “viable and sustainable” ￰1￱ the stock exchange’s framework , companies aiming to transform into Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) entities must integrate crypto as a core ￰2￱ regulations prohibit excessive holdings of liquid ￰3￱ companies aiming to hoard crypto, “success in getting approval depends on whether they can demonstrate that acquiring crypto assets is part and parcel of their operating business,” said Simon Hawkins, Partner at Latham & ￰4￱ to Bloomberg, Asia’s three major stock exchanges are tightening scrutiny of crypto asset treasury firms that seek to list under conventional corporate ￰5￱ Hong Kong Stock Exchange has rejected at least five such applications in recent months, citing rules… — Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) October 22, 2025 Increasing Number of Digital Asset Hoarders: Promise and Peril DATs were born in 2020 when Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy (later renamed Strategy) announced via an SEC filing that the company had purchased Bitcoin as part of a “new capital allocation strategy.” As of September 2025, 178 listed companies collectively hold 989,926 Bitcoin valued at about $107 billion , led by Saylor’s ￰6￱ several companies are looking to accumulate large amounts of crypto for their treasuries, many are questioning whether this signals genuine institutional ￰7￱ de Patoul, CEO of global crypto investment firm Keyrock, told Cryptonews that the credibility of their strategies matters more than short-term accumulation.

“The focus shouldn’t just be on the number of BTC or ETH they hold,” he said. “There should be curiosity behind who’s running it and whether they actually understand the ecosystem they’re investing in. It’s one thing to raise capital and buy tokens; it’s another to use that war chest to build meaningful projects and ￰8￱ leadership’s pedigree and the credibility of their strategy matter far more than short-term accumulation metrics.” Jurisdictions that Put DAT Firms Under Lens HKEX’s scrutiny aligns with similar regulatory tightening in nations, including India and ￰9￱ instance, the Bombay Stock Exchange vetoed an application last month from Jetking Infotrain, which planned to invest heavily in ￰10￱ action highlighted India’s regulatory void for DAT firms.

Further, the Australian exchange (ASX) has restricted listed companies from holding over 50% or more of their balance sheets in “cash-like” ￰11￱ makes firms “essentially impossible” to adopt a crypto treasury model, said Steve Orenstein, CEO of Locate Technologies Ltd. Japan, on the other hand, has had a different view on ￰12￱ to the fourth-largest corporate Bitcoin holders, Metaplanet, the nation has the most of Asia’s corporate BTC ￰13￱ of Oct 22, Metaplanet holds a total of 30,823 Bitcoin valued at $3.33 billion.