“[There is] a huge increase in mainland Chinese companies’ representation at this year’s event … [and a] big, big focus on AI and advanced technologies,” said Anthony Sar, founder and CEO of Finoverse. “AI, especially driven a lot by China tech, is one of the prominent trends that’s very different.”
Two years ago, Hong Kong used FinTech Week to focus on a regulatory overhaul meant to turn the city into a virtual asset hub. One of the headlining speakers was FTX founder Sam Bankman Fried, who is now serving a 25-year prison sentence for fraud.
Since then, multiple challenges have emerged, including a cryptocurrency market downturn – partially triggered by the 2022 collapse of FTX – major frauds in Hong Kong, and a regulatory regime for exchanges that some have criticised as too strict to stimulate business activity. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s launch of ChatGPT has led to AI projects sucking up much of the technology industry’s attention.
