HashKey has emerged as Hong Kong's largest licensed cryptocurrency alternate, however its IPO submitting reveals that the corporate is paying dearly for its place.
Hashkey processed a buying and selling quantity of HK$638.4 billion (about $82 billion) in 2024, because the Hong Kong platform scaled up for each institutional buyers and retail customers, in accordance with a submitting printed on the Hong Kong alternate on Monday. That is roughly double the quantity from the earlier 12 months.
The corporate's charges stay under 0.1%, reflecting a pricing technique that prioritizes market share over income. Hashkey controls about 75% of the Hong Kong market, however its race-to-the-bottom payment strategy resulted in a internet lack of greater than $151 million (HK$1.18 billion) in 2024. This may doubtless be a magnet for buyers evaluating the corporate's IPO.
Hashkey's Bermuda alternate was based as a world alternate providing a broader vary of property, however buying and selling quantity has fallen from about $23 billion within the first half of 2024 to about $1.4 billion a 12 months later. The submitting attributes this decline to a scarcity of on-off ramp functionality till late 2025 and a strategic setback in advertising and marketing.
HashKey is engaged on tokenization, staking, and Web3 occasions to diversify its enterprise, however the IPO submitting exhibits that these insurance policies are nonetheless removed from significant.
Revenues from tokenization amounted to solely about $900,000 (HK$7 million) in 2024, however declined to about $140,000 (HK$1.1 million) within the first half of 2025.
Web3 occasions, primarily from a convention held in Hong Kong within the spring, introduced in roughly US$4.8 million (HK$37.1 million) in 2024 and roughly US$3 million (HK$23.7 million) within the first half of 2025, making it one in every of HashKey's largest sources of non-trade income, though it stays small in comparison with HashKey's core alternate enterprise.
The submitting exhibits a diversified alternate with vital traction available in the market, however the enterprise mannequin remains to be working to discover a sustainable footing.
Hashkey's dominance in Hong Kong's licensing market highlights the platform's attain, however its skinny charges, modest new enterprise traces and diminished offshore exercise spotlight the monetary pressures surrounding an inventory. Will probably be as much as buyers to resolve whether or not that could be a viable path ahead.
HashKey is a competitor of CoinDesk's guardian firm, Bullish.
