HashKey has emerged as Hong Kong’s largest licensed cryptocurrency trade, however its IPO submitting reveals that the corporate is paying dearly for its place.
Hashkey processed a buying and selling quantity of HK$638.4 billion (about $82 billion) in 2024, because the Hong Kong platform scaled up for each institutional traders and retail customers, in accordance with a submitting printed on the Hong Kong trade on Monday. That is roughly double the quantity from the earlier yr.
The corporate’s charges stay beneath 0.1%, reflecting a pricing technique that prioritizes market share over income. Hashkey controls about 75% of the Hong Kong market, however its race-to-the-bottom charge strategy led to a web lack of greater than $151 million (HK$1.18 billion) in 2024. This may doubtless be a magnet for traders evaluating the corporate’s IPO.
Hashkey’s Bermuda trade was based as a worldwide trade providing a broader vary of property, however buying and selling quantity has fallen from about $23 billion within the first half of 2024 to about $1.4 billion a yr later. The submitting attributes this decline to a scarcity of on-off ramp functionality till late 2025 and a strategic setback in advertising and marketing.
HashKey is engaged on tokenization, staking, and Web3 occasions to diversify its enterprise, however the IPO submitting exhibits that these insurance policies are nonetheless removed from significant.
Revenues from tokenization amounted to solely about $900,000 (HK$7 million) in 2024, however declined to about $140,000 (HK$1.1 million) within the first half of 2025.
Web3 occasions, primarily from a convention held in Hong Kong within the spring, introduced in roughly US$4.8 million (HK$37.1 million) in 2024 and roughly US$3 million (HK$23.7 million) within the first half of 2025, making it one in all HashKey’s largest sources of non-trade income, though it stays small in comparison with HashKey’s core trade enterprise.
The submitting exhibits a diversified trade with vital traction out there, however the enterprise mannequin remains to be working to discover a sustainable footing.
Hashkey’s dominance in Hong Kong’s licensing market highlights the platform’s attain, however its skinny charges, modest new enterprise traces and decreased offshore exercise spotlight the monetary pressures surrounding an inventory. It will likely be as much as traders to resolve whether or not that could be a viable path ahead.
HashKey is a competitor of CoinDesk’s mum or dad firm, Bullish.
