Key conclusions

• HashKey aims to become Hong Kong’s first all-cryptocurrency public offering, listing 240.57 million shares under the city’s virtual asset regulatory regime.

• The business goes beyond spot exchange, combining trading, custody, institutional staking, asset management and tokenization into one regulated platform.

• Revenues are growing, but the company continues to incur losses as it invests heavily in technology, compliance and market expansion.

• The majority of IPO proceeds are expected to be used to finance infrastructure and international growth, making the listing a long-term investment in regulated digital asset markets.

HashKey aims to become the first cryptocurrency exchange that Hong Kong investors can purchase on their local exchange. The company has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) that could make it the city’s first publicly traded, fully cryptocurrency venue under a modern virtual asset regime. It offers 240.57 million shares, part of which is reserved for local retail investors.

The shares are trading at a price of HK$5.95 to HK$6.95, which could rise to HK$1.67 billion, or about $215 million, a multi-billion dollar valuation if the offering is fully subscribed.

Trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is expected to begin on December 17.

HashKey already operates what it calls “the largest licensed platform in Hong Kong,” a broader suite that includes custody, institutional staking and tokenization. In its latest filing, the group said it has tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars in assets and platforms under management.

In the following sections, we’ll look at the company’s operations, how its financial performance compares, how it plans to employ the IPO proceeds, and why its listing performance matters to understanding Hong Kong’s broader virtual asset ambitions.

Did you know? Some analysts see HashKey’s IPO as a real-time test of whether public markets are willing to support a highly regulated crypto infrastructure.

Why HashKey’s IPO could be a key step for Hong Kong

HashKey is one of the first grave attempts to bring Hong Kong’s modern set of virtual asset regulations to public investors. The stock exchange is planning offer A total of 240.57 million shares, of which 24.06 million were allotted to local investors and the remainder to international buyers, at a maximum offer price of HKD 6.95 per share.

The final valuation is expected to be announced on December 16, 2025, with trading scheduled to begin the following day under proposed stock code 3887. If the offer is fully subscribed at the high end of the range, its price could rise to HK$1.67 billion, or approximately $215 million, potentially making HashKey one of the better-known publicly traded cryptocurrency companies in Asia.

The listing also marks a milestone in Hong Kong’s efforts to rebuild its status as a digital asset hub after years of regulatory uncertainty. Over the past two years, the city has introduced a dedicated licensing regime for retail and institutional cryptocurrency platforms, enabled tight control of staking services, and tightened deposit and supervision requirements for stablecoins.

HashKey offers an early, detailed look at what a fully regulated, cross-industry crypto business might look like within this framework.

The IPO could serve as a real-time test of investor appetite for crypto infrastructure to ensure regulatory compliance, especially as mainland China maintains strict restrictions on many digital asset activities. Beijing has already decided to halt some immense tech-backed stablecoin projects in the city: Hong Kong’s experiment has political limits.

The way HashKey is trading after its debut could be seen as an early indication of whether these restrictions still leave enough room for a profitable, publicly traded cryptocurrency exchange to succeed.

Did you know? HashKey Group is backed by established institutional investors, including entities affiliated with Wanxiang, giving it a more time-honored financial profile than many offshore exchanges.

What company actually goes public?

On paper, HashKey Holdings is an IPO. In practice, investors are offered a broader crypto infrastructure stack that has already been vetted and licensed under Hong Kong’s regulatory framework.

At the core is HashKey Exchange, a Hong Kong-based trading venue licensed by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) under a Type 1 and Type 7 license to trade and operate a virtual asset trading platform. It supports spot trading, over-the-counter services, and fiat transactions in HKD and USD. The company describes itself as the largest licensed facility in Hong Kong serving both retail and professional clients.

There is a broader ecosystem around this. HashKey Cloud provides institutional staking and node services, and the company says it has received approval to support staking of Hong Kong Ether spot funds (ETFs). In its filings, HashKey said it managed approximately HK$29 billion in staked assets at the end of the third quarter of 2025, ranking it as one of Asia’s largest staking providers and among the larger players globally.

The group also runs an asset management division offering crypto funds and venture strategies. It had approximately HK$7.8 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2025, according to documents. It has also transitioned to tokenization via HashKey Chain, a network focused on real-world assets (RWA), stablecoins, and institutional employ cases. The company recorded approximately HK$1.7 billion in onchain RWA across the network.

Finally, HashKey builds crypto tools as a service and obtains licenses in markets including Singapore, Dubai, Japan, Bermuda and parts of Europe. This suggests that the IPO is intended to support international expansion and a white label infrastructure model, rather than just the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in one market.

Did you know? According to HashKey’s disclosures, its RWA network has already tokenized over HK$1 billion worth of real assets on-chain, including products such as structured bonds and private credit.

Revenues, losses and the “compliance first” bet.

HashKey reflects a typical growth phase pattern: revenues have grown rapidly, but the company continues to burn cash as it invests in development, licensing and compliance. Total revenue increased from approximately HK$129 million in 2022 to HK$721 million in 2024, an boost of over 4.5 times in two years due to the launch of the Hong Kong and Bermuda stock exchanges and increased trading activity.

This growth has not yet translated into profits. Report review indicates net losses almost doubled over the same period, from HK$585.2 million in 2022 to HK$1.19 billion in 2024, driven by higher spending on technology, employment, compliance and marketing.

Trading volume increased from HK$4.2 billion in 2022 to HK$638.4 billion in 2024, but a low-fee strategy and the costs of operating licensed facilities in multiple jurisdictions meant financial results were heavily negative.

More recent data suggests the trajectory may be improving. In the first half of 2025, HashKey reported a net loss of HKD 506.7 million, lower than the loss of HKD 772.6 million in the same period a year earlier.

The company defines these losses as the cost of building a licensed, compliant and scalable digital asset platform ahead of the market cycle. He argues that the long and high-priced expansion reflects the appearance of earlier stock market leaders before they became profitable.

How HashKey plans to employ IPO proceeds

HashKey clearly outlines how it plans to employ the modern capital.

• About 40% of net proceeds will go toward technology and infrastructure upgrades over the next three to five years. This includes scaling HashKey Chain and the exchange’s matching engine, as well as strengthening its depository, security and back-office systems. The company summaries also point to derivatives, income products and enhanced institutional tools as specific areas of expansion that would bring HashKey closer to the full suite of products offered by larger international facilities.

• Another 40% was allocated to market expansion and ecosystem partnerships. In practice, this means moving more aggressively into modern jurisdictions and scaling crypto-as-a-service, where banks, brokers and fintechs connect to HashKey’s depository and trading stack via APIs, rather than building the full infrastructure in-house. The company’s discussion of foreign licensing and institutional affiliations suggests it aims to differentiate itself from exchanges that rely primarily on retail operations.

• The remaining 20% ​​is divided between operations and risk management (10%) and working capital and general corporate purposes (10%). This includes hiring, strengthening compliance and internal controls, and maintaining balance sheet flexibility to navigate market cycles.

What’s next?

There are three things to pay attention to in December:

• How the transaction is valued and how the shares are traded after listing

• Can HashKey turn its full stack, including exchange, custody, staking and tokenization, into stable, diversified income

• How strongly Hong Kong maintains its licensed but open approach to digital assets.

If HashKey performs well, it could provide other exchanges, banks and tokenization projects with a clearer path to going public in the city. If this is arduous, the result may reveal where the practical limits of Hong Kong’s virtual asset experiment lie.