No restriction found
Hong Kong
No rule bars privacy coins, but SFC guidance tells licensed platforms to assess their money-laundering risk and refrain if it cannot be managed.
The rule
- Exchange listing
- Allowed
- Holding by individuals
- Allowed
- Mixers
- No specific rule
- Self-hosted wallets
- Ownership proof
- Confidence
- Confirmed
Dates: the rule on self-hosted wallets since 1 Jun 2023.
No Hong Kong law or Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) rule was found that bars privacy coins, and individuals may hold them. The SFC Guidelines for Virtual Asset Trading Platform Operators (June 2023) require due diligence on each token, including its money-laundering risks (paragraph 7.6), and SFC approval before a token is offered to retail clients (paragraph 16.4), but name no privacy-coin ban, and nor does the SFC's July 2025 licensing handbook for platforms. The SFC anti-money-laundering guideline for licensed virtual asset service providers lists anonymity-enhanced virtual assets, mixers, tumblers and privacy wallets as risks to assess (paragraphs 12.2.1 and 12.2.2), says firms should refrain from such transactions if those risks cannot be mitigated and managed, and treats mixer-linked wallets as suspicious sources when screening transfers (paragraph 12.7.3). HashKey Exchange's market list fetched on 13 October 2026 includes no Monero, Zcash or Dash. No Hong Kong sanction, prosecution or ban on mixers was found.
Instrument: SFC Guideline on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (for licensed corporations and SFC-licensed virtual asset service providers), paragraphs 12.2.1 and 12.2.2
Sources
- Guidelines for Virtual Asset Trading Platform Operators
- Guideline on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (For Licensed Corporations and SFC-licensed Virtual Asset Service Providers)
- Licensing Handbook for Virtual Asset Trading Platform Operators (July 2025)
- HashKey Exchange public API: exchange information (symbols)
Self-hosted wallets
Ownership proof since 1 Jun 2023
Since 1 June 2023, SFC-licensed virtual asset firms should obtain and record originator and recipient information from their customer before any transfer to or from an unhosted wallet, and should accept such transfers only with wallets they have assessed as reliable, including by checking the customer's ownership or control.
Paragraphs 12.14.2 and 12.14.3 of the SFC's anti-money laundering guideline for licensed corporations and SFC-licensed virtual asset service providers (June 2023) call for the information before the transfer and risk-based measures including enhanced monitoring, accepting transfers only with unhosted wallets assessed as reliable in the light of screening and of the assessment of ownership or control, and transaction limits where appropriate; for unhosted-wallet transfers below HKD 8,000 the address, identity number or date and place of birth need not be obtained. Paragraph 12.10.6 says that for deposits or payments involving an unhosted wallet the firm should ascertain the customer's ownership or control by appropriate measures, giving as examples a micropayment test with an amount the firm specifies or a message-signing test, and whitelisted unhosted wallets should be rechecked periodically on a risk-sensitive basis. Paragraph 12.11.1 ties these requirements to section 13A of Schedule 2 to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance, the statutory travel rule for virtual asset transfers.
Privacy coins and wallets: The SFC guideline names anonymity-enhanced virtual assets, mixers, tumblers and privacy wallets as risks to assess, says firms should refrain from such transactions if the risks cannot be mitigated and managed (paragraph 12.2.2), and treats products using anonymity-enhancing technologies as higher risk (paragraph 12.15.3).
Exchanges and their restrictions
The 14 exchanges on this site, with the 32 spot markets they list for the seven coins, as checked on 13 Oct 2026. The exchange data records where each listing is restricted as text, so this page quotes each passage that names Hong Kong, and marks the cells it comes from. An exchange with no such passage has no restriction for Hong Kong on record here, which does not mean that it is licensed there or open to its residents. A listing is not an endorsement.
Swipe the table sideways to see all seven coins.
| Exchange | ZECZcashSpot on 11, perp only on 1 | XMRMoneroSpot on 6, perp only on 3 | DCRDecredSpot on 6 | ZANOZanoSpot on 1 | ARRRPirate ChainSpot on 2 | XVGVergeSpot on 4, perp only on 3 | FIROFiroSpot on 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binance | Restricted +perpApr 2025Shielded in: noShielded out: no | DelistedFeb 2024Perp only | RestrictedApr 2025 | Never listed | Never listed | Listed +perpWithdrawals frozen | DelistedApr 2025 |
| Coinbase | Listed +perpNov 2018Shielded in: yesShielded out: no | Never listed | Never listed | Never listed | Never listed | Never listed | Never listed |
| Kraken | Restricted +perpJun 2026Shielded in: unknownShielded out: no | Restricted +perpJun 2026 | RestrictedMay 2026 | Never listed | Never listed | Never listed | Never listed |
| OKX | Listed +perpNov 2025Shielded in: unknownShielded out: unknown | DelistedJan 2024 | DelistedJul 2024 | Never listed | Never listed | Never listed | Never listed |
| Bybit | DelistedFeb 2025Perp only | Never listedPerp only | DelistedNov 2024 | Never listed | Never listed | Never listedPerp only | Never listed |
| Bitget | Listed +perpDec 2025Shielded in: unknownShielded out: unknown | Never listedPerp only | Never listed | Never listed | Never listed | Never listedPerp only | Never listed |
| KuCoin | Listed +perpJul 2019Shielded in: unknownShielded out: no | Listed +perpMar 2019 | ListedSep 2018 | Never listed | DelistedSep 2023 | Never listedPerp only | Never listed |
| Gate | Listed +perpShielded in: unknownShielded out: unknown | Restricted +perp | Listed | Never listed | ListedWithdrawals frozen | Restricted | Restricted |
| HTX | Listed +perpDec 2022Shielded in: noShielded out: no | Listed +perpDec 2022 | ListedDec 2022 | Never listed | Never listed | ListedDec 2022 | DelistedSep 2025 |
| MEXC | Listed +perpShielded in: unknownShielded out: unknown | Listed +perp | Listed | ListedDec 2023 | ListedJan 2024 | Listed +perp | Listed |
| Gemini | RestrictedMay 2018Shielded in: yesShielded out: yes | Never listed | Never listed | Never listed | Never listed | Never listed | Never listed |
| Bitfinex | Listed +perpOct 2016Withdrawals frozenShielded in: unknownShielded out: unknown | ListedNov 2016 | DelistedMar 2022 | Never listed | Never listed | DelistedDec 2024 | Never listed |
| Crypto.com | Never listed | Never listed | Never listed | Never listed | Never listed | Never listed | Never listed |
| Upbit | DelistedSep 2019 | DelistedSep 2019 | DelistedDec 2020 | Never listed | Never listed | DelistedMay 2020 | DelistedMay 2020 |
Passages that name Hong Kong
- All coins: Global offshore platform; its user agreement (last updated 29 May 2025) bars all services to residents of the US, UK, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, mainland China, Kazakhstan, the Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine, North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Sudan and other comprehensively sanctioned or FATF blacklisted territories, so those users cannot trade any coin here
Self-hosted wallets for the seven coins
The nine wallets on the Wallets page that hold at least one of the seven coins, with the coins and platforms each supports. The wallet data does not record where each wallet is offered, so this list is the same on every country page, and Hong Kong's own rules, set out above, apply to their use. A listing is not an endorsement.