Tag: Syed Musheer Ahmed

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Regulatory Ramblings

Regulatory Ramblings: Episode 80 – Extraterritorial Frictions on Cross-Border Payments Laws // Spotlight on: Does Swift’s Recent Decision to Embrace the Blockchain Mean There’s No Barrier Between Traditional Finance and Decentralized Finance (DeFi)?

Today’s podcast commences with a brief discussion with Syed Musheer Ahmed of FinStep Asia and Monica Jasuja of the Emerging Payments Association on a recent LinkedIn post1 of Musheer’s stating that the lines between traditional finance and decentralized finance, or DeFi, have not just blurred but have merged thanks to SWIFT’s announcement at its annual conference in late-September that it will add a Blockchain based ledger to its infrastructure stack to hasten and scale the benefits of across over 200 countries and territories worldwide.

Following that, we chat with finance and technology lawyer M. Konrad Borowicz, an assistant professor at Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology and Society in the Netherlands, about a paper he recently presented entitled “Extraterritorial Frictions in the Law of Cross-Border Payments”2 at the European Central Bank’s Legal Research Program seminar in Frankfurt.

Please see the links in the footnotes.

Biography:

Syed Musheer Ahmed has over 18 years of extensive experience as an ecosystem builder in the realms of capital markets, fintech, and virtual assets. This includes a decade as a global markets trader before he came to Hong Kong to attain his MBA from the University of Hong Kong and London Business School’s joint program.

Since 2016, Musheer has contributed extensively to building the region’s fintech and virtual assets ecosystem, particularly as the co-founder, concurrent board member, and inaugural general manager of the Fintech Association of Hong Kong.

For almost five years, he has been the managing director of FinStep Asia, a firm that he founded. In the interim, from October 2022 until January 2024, he served as a financial markets risk assurance lead with the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority in Dubai.

Monica Jasuja is the chief expansion & innovation officer of the Emerging Payments Association Asia, and is the advisory board chair of the India-based Fintech Fusion. She is a veteran digital business executive with over two decades of global experience in strategizing, defining, leading, building, and deploying commercially viable innovative software products and solutions, primarily in financial services.

She has a passion for solving consumer problems in the areas of digital payments and consumer products. She says that continuously learning to help businesses grow and disrupt is “both my strength and a key driver.”

Monica is also an accomplished product leader, having managed multi-year strategic initiatives across the fields of design, development, deployment, and go-to-market (primarily for the financial services sector). She has ample international exposure in markets such as the US, Singapore, Taiwan, and India.

Since 2017, she has spearheaded a new vertical for large digital players and emerging fintech initiatives across sales, business development, product, and other cross-functional areas (legal, marketing, and policy) to create new revenue and expansion opportunities for payment rails across India.

M. Konrad Borowicz is a finance and technology lawyer whose research focuses on the regulation of credit, payments, and open data. Currently, he is an assistant professor at Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology and Society in the Netherlands, and a research coordinator at the Tilburg Law and Economics Center.

He has held visiting research and teaching positions at HKU, FGV São Paulo in Brazil, and Nova University in Lisbon, Portugal. Konrad’s work has appeared in the Journal of Financial Regulation, Capital Markets Law Journal, and the New York University Journal of Law and Business, among other publications. He is currently developing a book on EU Payments Law and Regulation, together with Emanuel van Praag, for Oxford University Press. Before coming to academia, Konrad was a finance lawyer at Ropes & Gray in London.

Discussion:

Why does the Swift organization’s action matter? The Swift network is used by over 11,500 financial institutions in more than 220 countries, making it the backbone of international finance. Essentially, every corner of the world: “It facilitates the transfer of value between banks globally underpinned by its messaging service, and roughly every three days, the world’s GDP passes over their network.”

Suppose a bank or financial institution already has SWIFT rails. In that case, they are likely to continue to leverage this TradFi institution – usually owned and run by the banks as a collective – to underpin their tokenized finance initiatives.”

Swift and a group of more than 30 financial institutions globally will develop a shared digital ledger, with the initial focus on real-time 24/7 cross-border payments. Specifically, Swift will work with Consensys (founded by the Cofounder of Ethereum) on a conceptual prototype of the ledger, which will leverage Swift’s unmatched resiliency, security, and scalability to facilitate transactions using any form of regulated tokenized value.

The initiative will see Swift partner up with Bank of America, Citigroup, NatWest, and others to develop a shared digital ledger for tokenized assets, including stablecoins.

It will combine straight-through processing and value+messaging capabilities on a single platform that every major bank uses.

The conversation starts with Musheer and Monica explaining why they believe the lines between TradFi and DeFi no longer hold the same significance. They also talk about the stablecoin implications of Swift building its own blockchain to enable transactions between banks worldwide, with HKU’s Regulatory Ramblings host Ajay Shamdasani.

Critics have dismissed correspondent banking as slow and outdated while praising stablecoins as faster and superior. But that narrative shifts the moment Swift brings blockchain into its rails, leading to improvement.

Separately, building on earlier pilots, Swift will also add the capability to support interoperability across existing and emerging systems for various use cases. “Developments are part of Swift’s strategy to power a best-in-class experience through innovation on parallel tracks – upgrading existing rails while creating future digital rails to maximize infrastructure choice for the industry.”

Monica and Musheer then share their thoughts on whether this can unlock interoperable tokenized bank deposits alongside other tokenized assets on SWIFT’s ledger. It is an open question as to whether the impact on global payments will be transformational or just a modification.

We then turn to Konrad to discuss his recently written paper. It is currently under review at Law and Geoeconomics and is closely related to the work done by HKU Law’s very own—and Regulatory Ramblings’ team leader—Prof. Douglas Arner—on the regionalization of payment systems.

Konrad’s paper discusses the extraterritorial frictions arising when policymakers seek to reconcile the payment systems of different countries. The main areas of friction are settlement finality, data protection, AML, and governance. In the paper, he proposes several institutional reforms aimed at reducing those frictions, namely – a model law on cross-border payment finality, narrowly tailored safe harbors for data sharing and an international payments forum under the auspices of august global bodies such as the Bank of International Settlements or the Financial Stability Board, though, as Ajay asks him: “Given that the BIS and FSB are legacy organizations that are slow to change, is that likely or prudent?”

The abstract to Konrad’s paper reads: “In 2020, the G20 placed cross-border payments at the top of the global financial agenda, spurring experiments to make transfers faster, cheaper, and more inclusive. Many build on instant or fast payment systems (FPS), yet linking infrastructures is as much a legal and geopolitical challenge as a technological one. When systems interconnect, they project domestic law across borders, generating extraterritorial frictions and giving rise to sovereignty concerns. This article compares three models of FPS interlinking—bilateral links, multilateral hubs, and direct access arrangements—showing how each produces frictions around settlement finality, AML/CFT and sanctions compliance, data protection, and governance. It then considers various policy proposals aimed at reducing these frictions, such as prefunding of accounts and the use of privacy-enhancing technologies. The analysis shows that technical fixes cannot resolve the structural frictions of cross-border payments, supporting the view that payment infrastructures embody sovereignty and that integration will likely proceed through regional blocs rather than a single global framework.”

He shares with Ajay why he chose to write his article now and what he thinks it adds to the existing literature on payments. Konrad elaborates on the three interlinking models of FPS — bilateral links, multilateral hubs, and direct access arrangements — delineated in his piece. He discusses how each produces frictions around settlement finality, AML/CFT and sanctions compliance, data protection, and governance.

Konrad acknowledges there are drawbacks to the multilateral model. That harmonization of law is often impeded because everyone must agree to the rules, which sometimes come up against rigid notions of sovereignty and regulatory ‘turf wars’ for some countries.

He concludes by saying that regional payment blocks will likely define the future, and how these different blocks interact will be key as regional payment infrastructures continue to improve.

“Regional payment blocks seem to be a way to circumvent sanctions, which are geopolitical weapons,” Konrad says. “That is why regional blocks will emerge, [because] people will disagree on what will be sanctioned. Ultimately, it is a political question, not a technical fix.”

Regulatory Ramblings podcasts is brought to you by The University of Hong Kong – Reg/Tech Lab, HKU-SCF Fintech Academy, Asia Global Institute, and HKU-edX Professional Certificate in Fintech, with support from the HKU Faculty of Law.

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Regulatory Ramblings

Regulatory Ramblings: Episode 76 – The Digital Future: The US GENIUS Act and Hong Kong Stablecoins Ordinance // The Hong Kong Web3 Blueprint: Building a Web 3 International Financial Hub Report

The common theme for this episode is FinTech and Web3 writ large – with an eye towards digital assets and virtual currency.

In today’s spotlight segment, we’ll be speaking with a returning guest and a dear friend of the program – Syed Musheer Ahmed of Hong Kong-based FinStep Asia on the recently disseminated “Hong Kong Web3 Blueprint: Building a Web 3 International Financial Hub” report. Joining Musheer is Sean Lee, co-lead of Web3 Harbour’s Policy Committee and one of the key leaders of the Blueprint task force.

Following that, we’ll be chatting with local lawyer Joshua Chu on the recently passed US GENIUS Act and what it means for making the US a stablecoin hub.

Joshua Chu

Joshua Chu is a prominent Hong Kong lawyer in all matters fintech and crypto, and a prolific writer. His opinion and insights are much sought after by the local press and correspondents of major foreign news organizations operating in the city. You can often hear him at his most candid on the radio at RTHK. He is also co-chair of the Hong Kong Web 3 Association and legal advisor to the Hong Kong Blockchain Association.

 

Syed Musheer Ahmed

Syed Musheer Ahmed is managing director of FinStep Asia – a firm he founded six years ago. With over 18 years of extensive experience as an ecosystem builder in the realms of capital markets, fintech, and virtual assets, including a decade as a global markets trader, he came to Hong Kong to attain his MBA from the University of Hong Kong and London Business School’s joint program.

A self-described “fintech ballerina,” since 2016, Musheer has contributed extensively to building the region’s fintech and virtual assets ecosystem, particularly as the co-founder and concurrent board member and the inaugural general manager of the Fintech Association of Hong Kong (FTAHK).

He has also done a stint as a regulator. Beyond his many contributions to the territory’s fintech regulatory policy during his tenure with the FTAHK, from October 2022 to January 2024, he served as a financial markets risk assurance lead with the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority in Dubai.

Sean Lee

Sean Lee, Co-founder of IDA, a digital asset technology company, aims to lead the widespread adoption of blockchain finance and empower Belt and Road businesses to integrate seamlessly between Web2 and Web3.  Previously, Sean was the CEO of the Algorand Foundation, where he led the layer-1 protocol to achieve a top-10 network valuation of over $10 billion under his leadership.

Sean has active engagements with global regulators and policymakers as a Senior Advisor for the Crypto Council for Innovation in regulatory advocacy and advancing the transformative potential of digital assets, and APAC policy advisor for the Stablecoin Standard.  Sean is also an elected member of the Hong Kong Government’s Cyberport Entrepreneurship Committee Advisory Group and a Forbes Digital Asset contributor.

 

Discussion:

The conversation starts with a discussion of the Hong Kong Web3 Blueprint Report. Musheer and Sean share with Regulatory Ramblings host Ajay Shamdasani that the document should be seen as a roadmap for hastening blockchain development in the territory. For that purpose, Web3 Harbour joined forces with PwC Hong Kong to launch five action groups this August on stablecoins, funds, and other critical segments.

Ultimately, it is a call for more action across various aspects, from investment to talent, policy, infrastructure, and standards,  to accelerate the development of Web 3.0 in the SAR.

The report highlights the “transparency, security, and user empowerment” of decentralization.

As the SCMP put it: “The blueprint seeks to leverage what it calls ‘Web3 superpowers’ through the development of ‘five key enablers’: talent, market infrastructure, standards, regulation, and funding and economic contribution. It calls on participants to focus on open finance, trade finance, capital markets, asset management, and carbon markets.

The report was compiled with input from Web3 Harbour members and other industry stakeholders.

Web3 Harbour chairman Gary Liu, formerly CEO of the Post, said greater private-public collaboration was among its goals, but it was primarily a guide for where the private sector should focus its efforts.

To that end, the report should not be seen as just a document- it is a blueprint for transformation, the guests say. From regulation and standards to infrastructure and talent, the Hong Kong Web3 Blueprint identifies the key enablers that will shape Hong Kong’s position as a global Web3 finance hub.

Hong Kong has distinct advantages to capture a significant part of the global Web3 opportunity, but the question is, how do we get there? asks Musheer and Sean. They also share what prompted them to write the report now, their key observations and conclusions, and what policy outcomes they advocate.

Ultimately, talent, infrastructure, standards, regulation, and funding are the critical enablers identified in the Web3 Blueprint that are crucial to positioning Hong Kong as a Web3-enabled international financial centre. The document outlines how Web3 technologies can drive sustainable innovation, create economic growth, and raise the territory’s digital finance leadership on the world stage.

Following that, we discussed the enactment of the new GENIUS Act in the US in late July with Joshua. In what was labelled “Crypto Day” during that country’s recent “Crypto Week,” the U.S. House of Representatives first passed the CLARITY market structure bill and then the GENIUS Act on July 18 – the latter of which was signed by President Trump. These moves by Congress were seen as historic steps forward in the regulation of virtual assets in the United States – or as one pundit put it: “Crypto’s time has come.”

The US legislation is the first standalone bill aimed at providing clarity for the growing cryptocurrency ecosystem – particularly the regulation of stablecoins.

According to TRM Labs, stablecoins now represent over 60% of all crypto transaction volume – up from just 35% two years ago. More than 90% of fiat-backed stablecoins in circulation are pegged to the US dollar. Although TRM estimates that 99% of stablecoin activity is licit, their speed, scale, and liquidity have made them appealing for illicit uses, including ransomware payments, fraud, and terrorist financing.​

The GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins) establishes reserve requirements for stablecoin issuers, alongside consumer protection measures and anti-money laundering (AML) provisions.

These provisions aim to provide greater stability and security for stablecoin markets, ensuring they are better integrated into the U.S. financial system. This marks a key moment for the regulatory framework governing digital assets, as the U.S. works to balance innovation with risk management.

As for the CLARITY Act, it addresses broader market structure issues within the cryptocurrency space. The Senate is working on its market structure bill. After both chambers have acted, they will conference to reconcile their differences and finalize a version of the CLARITY bill that will move forward – likely this fall.​

The passage of both bills reflects a significant effort to provide clear regulatory guidance for the crypto market, helping to address the growing need for oversight as the industry continues to expand.

At the same time, half a world away in Hong Kong, the city’s Stablecoins Ordinance (Cap. 656) (Stablecoins Ordinance) and related implementation guidelines issued by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority commenced operation on 1 August 2025 – with a transitional period granted solely for issuance purposes.​

This new regime is touted as a significant milestone for Hong Kong’s growing digital assets market. According to King & Wood Mallesons: “It is relevant to institutions that wish to engage in the primary market issuance of fiat-referenced stablecoins, as well as other secondary market transactions in or involving Hong Kong. Even if you are outside Hong Kong, you should pay attention to the restrictions imposed under the Stablecoins Ordinance for any stablecoin-related activities with a Hong Kong nexus.”

At a glance, the Hong Kong Stablecoins Ordinance regulates:​

– Issuers of stablecoins and the structure of a stablecoin itself.

– Offers of stablecoins.

– Related market integrity and conduct matters.

The regime took effect on 1 August 2025, with a transitional period for issuance only.

The Stablecoins Ordinance regulates “specified stablecoins,” which are stablecoins (ie, a cryptographically secured digital representation of value) that purport to maintain a stable value with reference wholly to one or more official currencies or other HKMA-specified units of account or stores of economic value (see section 4 of the Stablecoins Ordinance).

While this is a rather technical definition, it essentially captures:

– a stablecoin linked to an “official currency”; and

– a stablecoin linked to other “units of account” or “stores of economic value”, in each case, as designated by the HKMA (by notice published in the Gazette).

To date, the HKMA has not specified any such units of account or stores of economic value, but we expect they may include commodities such as gold.

Joshua delineates the longer-term implications for our region and the world as a result of the above regulatory developments in Hong Kong and the US.

Regulatory Ramblings podcasts is brought to you by The University of Hong Kong – Reg/Tech Lab, HKU-SCF Fintech Academy, Asia Global Institute, and HKU-edX Professional Certificate in Fintech, with support from the HKU Faculty of Law.

Useful links in this episode:

You might also be interested in:

Connect with RR Podcast at:

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Regulatory Ramblings: Episode 75 – Rethinking Hong Kong’s Startup Ecosystem and Its Legal Foundations with Syed Musheer Ahmed, Joshua Chu, and David Cameron

In this episode, we feature two conversations exploring different frontiers of finance and technology.
​
This episode focuses on Hong Kong’s startup company environment. Specifically, how conducive is the city’s ecosystem for their inception, growth, and scaling up—legally, commercially, and policy-wise?
​
In the initial spotlight segment, we speak with David Cameron, a veteran American lawyer based in the territory who advises startups on the challenges and pitfalls startups face in their earlier stages. Obtaining affordable and sound legal advice is a key part of their quandary.
​
Following that, we discuss how to establish a body that provides genuine support and mentoring to emerging HK businesses, featuring Syed Musheer Ahmed, managing director of FinStep Asia and a former regulator with the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority in Dubai, alongside local lawyer Joshua Chu. Simply put, it’s going to revolve around a public-private partnership.

David Cameron is managing partner and founder of the David Cameron Law Office, or DCLO—an independent, HK-based law firm offering international legal services. Founded in 2021, the firm is qualified to act on matters of Hong Kong and New York law. He has 16 years of experience in the Hong Kong market—including time spent at some of the largest law firms in the world, such as Linklaters and Allen & Overy.

DCLO is a corporate law firm, offering advice and solutions on general corporate matters, capital raising, M&A, fund formation, and contract law. DCLO also has specialized areas in family law, employment law, immigration, and litigation. In addition, DCLO has the unique offering of acting as external general counsel for growing companies that do not yet have their own in-house legal counsel.
​
DCLO is also deeply involved in Hong Kong initiatives, such as family offices, Hong Kong limited partnership funds (LPFs), Hong Kong open-ended fund companies (OFCs), and the Hong Kong Capital Investment Entrant Scheme.

Joshua Chu is a prominent Hong Kong lawyer in all matters fintech and crypto, and a prolific writer. His opinion and insights are much sought after by the local press and correspondents of major foreign news organizations operating in the city. You can often hear him at his most candid on the radio at RTHK. He is also co-chair of the Hong Kong Web 3 Association and legal advisor to the Hong Kong Blockchain Association.

Syed Musheer Ahmed is the managing director of FinStep Asia—a firm he founded six years ago. With over 18 years of extensive experience as an ecosystem builder in the realms of capital markets, fintech, and virtual assets, including a decade as a global markets trader, before coming to Hong Kong to attain his MBA from the University of Hong Kong and London Business School’s joint program.

A self-described “fintech ballerina,” since 2016, Musheer has contributed extensively to building the region’s fintech and virtual assets ecosystem, particularly as the co-founder and as a concurrent board member and the inaugural general manager of the Fintech Association of Hong Kong (FTAHK).

He has also done a stint as a regulator. Beyond his many contributions to the territory’s fintech regulatory policy during his tenure with the FTAHK, from October 2022 to January 2024, he served as a financial markets risk assurance lead with the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority in Dubai.

Discussion:

The conversation begins with a recent article published in the South China Morning Post, written by Petty Sito and Julie Zhang, which discusses how InvestHK, a quasi-governmental body, is now supporting local companies in expanding their overseas operations, a shift from its previous focus on attracting investment to the city over the past 25 years.

The article mentions that the Evident Group, operator of a digital investment platform for alternative assets and licensed by the Securities and Futures Commission, formed a partnership with Zand Bank, the UAE’s first fully licensed digital bank. The collaboration will provide the Dubai-based bank’s clients with investment opportunities through Evident’s tokenization technology and infrastructure.

Yet, is that enough when places like Singapore, Taiwan, and Israel long ago seemed to have learned how to nurture and scale up startups to go global? Our guests today believe that an empowered, well-resourced startup-centric body would be a good idea, and it will require a public-private partnership to make it happen.

The crux of the discussion is what can be done to improve Hong Kong’s startup ecosystem? More pointedly, what can be done to help up-and-coming companies reach their potential and become the juggernauts of tomorrow? Indications are that it will require a separate entity offering genuine startup support, something beyond InvestHK, Cyberport, Science Park, or the Hong Kong Trade Development Council.

David kicks things off, sharing his thoughts on the legal and compliance challenges that startups face in the Special Administrative Region with Regulatory Ramblings host Ajay Shamdasani. They discuss how to effectively serve as a lawyer for a startup when they don’t have much of a legal budget. In such instances, fractional or part-time in-house counsel might be more suited to a firm’s means and needs.

Yet, beyond legal considerations, other mistakes do startups make, such as running out of money too soon, seem like a cliché at this point. David shares his perspective on what can be done to improve the city’s ecosystem for startups and stresses that legal expenses should be seen as an investment in a firm’s future rather than costly, burdensome drudgery.

The discussion then shifts to Musheer and Joshua in the second segment. They stress that looking objectively at the SAR’s existing structure of InvestHK, Cyberport, and Science Park, and without being overly critical of what has come before, though past government actions – mistakes have been made and, hopefully, lessons have been learned. Even still, they ask, what would need to be done to create a proper startup support entity?

As Musheer notes, something distinct from either Cyberport or HKSTP is needed: “more of an internal InvestHK with a main [key performance indicator] of building and sustaining [a] local ecosystem.”

They both emphasize that the hallmark of a strong startup ecosystem is the strength of its community. “They need bank account access, government subsidies, and both local and international business ties,” Musheer said.

In a similar vein, Joshua added: “Is the community open to it [startups]? Hong Kong can be very myopic, with everyone doing their own thing. Early-stage funding in here is weak. How do we fix that?”

Both men cited examples from around the world that have been successful, including private-public partnerships, incubators like Hong Kong’s WHub, and university grants for startups – all of which Hong Kong has.

“The pain points in Hong Kong are that it is rich in tech and ideas, but you need many people for startups to thrive; a critical mass of consumers. They need a pool of consumers ready to be excited about product launches. Then look at how incubators can pitch to select committees,” Joshua said.

Both experts conclude that the city needs not only investors, but also mentors and a nurturing, open-minded community with support systems. That includes non-financial operational support for local startups in Hong Kong, with adequate communication and partnerships, and angel investors who can help with coordinating matters.

Culture and mindset are a key part of the equation. The local startup scene needs local angel advisers because, as Joshua observes, “the Hong Kong business environment is too Asian, too formulaic and math-based. We need some element of [creative] strategy.”
Infrastructure issues are also a concern. For example, the city’s Cyberport and Science Park could use better transportation, they say, because both locations are far away from the core business districts of Central, Admiralty, and Wanchai. Beyond that, both say the city has great facilities that can help bring innovative companies together.
“What’s needed is more facilitation of commercialization,” Musheer said.

The ultimate question is whether private enterprises can collaborate with the government to develop more effective business strategies.

Regulatory Ramblings podcasts is brought to you by The University of Hong Kong – Reg/Tech Lab, HKU-SCF Fintech Academy, Asia Global Institute, and HKU-edX Professional Certificate in Fintech, with support from the HKU Faculty of Law.

Useful links in this episode:

You might also be interested in:

Connect with RR Podcast at:

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hkufintech.fb/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hkufintech/ 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HKUFinTech 
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@hkufintech
Website: https://www.hkufintech.com/regulatoryramblings 

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Regulatory Ramblings

Regulatory Ramblings: Episode 50 – Hong Kong to Dubai and Back Again Reflections on A Career in FinTech Ep with Syed Musheer Ahmed

Syed Musheer Ahmed has extensive experience in capital markets, fintech, and virtual assets, including a decade as a global markets trader before coming to Hong Kong to attain his MBA from the University of Hong Kong and London Business School’s joint program.

Since 2016, Musheer has contributed extensively to building the region’s fintech and virtual asset ecosystem, particularly as the co-founder and the inaugural general manager of the Fintech Association of Hong Kong.

For the last five years, he has been the managing director of FinStep Asia – a firm he founded to provide venture-building and empower cross-border bridges across Asia. In the interim, from October 2022 to January 2024, he served as a financial markets risk assurance lead as part of the foundational team of the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) in Dubai.

In this episode of Regulatory Ramblings, Musheer chats with host Ajay Shamdasani about his background, growing up in India’s information technology hub, Bangalore, his initial training as an engineer, and his stint as a regulator in the Mideast’s Manhattan.

As the discussion progresses, Musheer reaffirms his faith in Hong Kong as a place for FinTech and crypto entrepreneurs, discussing what it is about the city and the field that continues to attract and amaze him.

He also stresses that in the evolution of FinTech, the field has long since passed the nascent stage and is no longer all that new and glamorous since the advent of the iPhone in 2007 and Satoshi Nakamoto’s paper on Blockchain first released in 2009. Yet, he acknowledges that technological innovation continues, as he shares his thoughts on the regulatory approaches taken across Asia by mainland China, India, Singapore, and Hong Kong – and the similarities and differences between some of the major jurisdictions.

While virtual assets have evolved in some parts of the world, in others, they are still somewhat of a grey zone. Musheer also comments on the prospects for cross-border crypto regulation in the Asia-Pacific or even internationally evolving to harmonized rules, mutual recognition, or common passporting—as was discussed a decade ago for the investment funds sector.

He also shares his views on choosing between stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), which are not binary. Musheer emphasizes that it is not an either-or choice because both fulfill different purposes.

The conversation concludes with his assessment of the potential for Hong Kong and mainland China to collaborate with the Middle East’s FinTech and virtual asset hubs, such as Dubai.

Connect with RR Podcast at:

LinkedIn: https://hk.linkedin.com/company/hkufintech 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hkufintech.fb/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hkufintech/ 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HKUFinTech 
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@hkufintech
Website: https://www.hkufintech.com/regulatoryramblings 

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