One in four Hong Kong residents plans to invest in crypto: Survey

April 2, 2025

By Our Correspondent

According to researchers from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, one in four adults in Hong Kong intends to invest in virtual assets in the future, reflecting a 6 percentage point increase from a previous survey conducted following a fraud scandal involving a cryptocurrency platform in September 2023. This suggests that the negative repercussions of the incident have diminished.

The latest survey, which took place over three weeks in November 2024, included responses from 5,863 Hong Kong adults, as reported by The Standard newspaper. The earlier two surveys were conducted in April-May and September-October of 2023, prior to and shortly after the fraud incident.

The research team at HKUST noted that interest in virtual assets among Hongkongers has returned to pre-scandal levels. Throughout all three surveys, at least 40 percent of participants expressed uncertainty about their future involvement with virtual assets. The most recent findings indicate that Hongkongers are considerably more inclined to utilize cryptocurrency exchanges that are regulated, with 20 percent more respondents indicating they would feel secure depositing funds into regulated platforms compared to unregulated ones. 

Bitcoin continues to be the leading virtual asset, with 81 percent of participants indicating a desire to invest in it, reflecting a 7 percentage point increase since the initial survey. Conversely, interest in non-fungible tokens has declined, falling by 11 percentage points from the first survey, as consumer preferences shift away from speculative digital collectibles.

Nonetheless, there is still a need to enhance public understanding of tokenized currencies. The HKUST survey revealed that 72 percent of respondents were not familiar with Central Bank Digital Currency, while 65 percent were unaware of e-HKD, 61 percent of stablecoins, and 81 percent of tokenized deposits.