Hong Kong’s first licensed cryptocurrency exchange HashKey has caught market observers’ attention with its Bitcoin (BTC) trading volume shockingly rising to $3.48 billion in the last 24 hours and total trading volume soaring to $4.21 billion. This notable increase in volumes has put HashKey in close competition with industry giant Binance.
Suspicions of Wash Trading
The striking increase in HashKey’s trading volume has raised concerns among market makers about wash trading in the platform’s cryptocurrency transactions. Wash trading, fundamentally, involves buy and sell orders for the same financial instrument that cancel each other out and have no commercial value.
The significant increase in trading volumes has led to questions about the legitimacy of these activities and compliance with the cryptocurrency regulations set by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). Furthermore, analyses by cryptocurrency price and data provider CoinGecko have given Hashkey’s BTC/USD and ETH/USD trading pairs a rather unreliable trust score. The trust score is a measure reserved for predicting liquidity or the number of transactions which has increased suspicions about the cryptocurrency exchange’s trading practices and overall reliability.
In August, Hashkey became the first Hong Kong cryptocurrency exchange to receive a license to offer cryptocurrency trading to individual investors. The SFC also granted a license in November of this year to Swiss crypto bank SEBA to offer various services related to cryptocurrencies to clients in the region.
COO Comments After the Surge in Volume
HashKey’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) Livio Weng addressed the unexpected and abnormal transactions occurring on the platform during an event. He emphasized HashKey’s commitment to maintaining a fair and transparent trading environment, stating that any fraud or manipulation would be thoroughly investigated to ensure the platform’s safe operation, and necessary actions would be taken if any such activities were detected.
Weng also mentioned the current zero transaction fee program and HashKey’s operational incentives. These initiatives have not only led to a significant increase in trading volume but have also played a major role in substantially increasing liquidity on the platform.
While expressing excitement about the positive response from the HashKey community, Weng added that alongside addressing irregularities, the cryptocurrency exchange actively works to optimize policies to provide users with a seamless and rewarding experience.
- HashKey’s trading surge raises competition.
- Wash trading concerns spark scrutiny.
- COO addresses platform’s transaction anomalies.
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