Hong Kong regulators said they were considering tighter oversight of digital asset influencers, including changes to intermediary licensing rules, as part of efforts to limit the reach of overseas platforms that may mislead or defraud local investors.
Hong Kong Mulls More Curbs on Social Media Influencers Touting Digital Assets
4 June 2026 - 09:17 CEST
New rules for new norms
Acknowledging that financial influencers, or finfluencers, have become more common, Eric Yip, executive director of the Securities and Futures Commission’s intermediaries division, told a session of the Legislative Council that expanded rules might be needed.
The SFC's broader approach to so-called finfluencers is set out in its ASPIRe regulatory roadmap, published in February 2025, which commits the regulator to reconcile their acitivites alongside investor education initiatives.
The SFC joined a coordinated week of action with 16 other International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) member regulators in April. The regulator has also submitted 12 reports on 33 suspicious influencer posts to social media platforms since July 2025, with more than 90% taken down.
Members of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council expressed concerns about whether the government had allocated sufficient resources to strengthen investor education and promote the digital assets business, according to a briefing note on the 1 Jun session published by the lawmaking body.
Yip told lawmakers the SFC had been working with the virtual assets sector since 2025 to determine whether new regulatory considerations were required, The Standard reported, including a possible strengthening of firms' codes of conduct.
Yip noted that the proliferation of finfluencers created a unique dynamic between influencers and their audiences. Many of these influencers operate outside Hong Kong's licensed domain, posing difficulties for regulators.
Catalyst from JPEX
Hong Kong cracked down on key opinion leaders (KOLs) in finance after a 2023 scandal involving the unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange JPEX, which caused approximately $206mn in losses among more than 2,700 reported victims.
The exchange had used aggressive promotion by high-profile financial influencers and celebrities to open physical over-the-counter crypto shops that took in funds from inexperienced investors with false promises of safe, high-yielding returns on JPC, the platform's native token.
On 5 Nov 2025, Hong Kong authorities formally charged 16 individuals with conspiracy to defraud and money laundering.
Overseas reach tested
Hong Kong has licensed 13 virtual asset trading platforms under its current framework, and the SFC holds licensed brokers and platforms legally responsible for the activities of those they supervise.
In June 2025, the SFC said it had stopped an unidentified overseas platform from targeting Hong Kong consumers through local influencers; the platform complied by terminating its affiliate and referral-code arrangements.
Global crackdown widens
Hong Kong is among at least 17 jurisdictions that are tightening oversight of social media influencers who promote financial products.
The UK's Financial Conduct Authority led a coordinated April enforcement push with 16 other IOSCO members. The FCA alone submitted 120 takedown requests and identified 1,267 illegal financial adverts targeting UK users. Australia prosecutes unlicensed influencers under traditional finance laws.
The EU's European Securities and Markets Authority issued a finfluencer factsheet in January, while the bloc's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation extends promotion and disclosure standards to crypto service providers when full enforcement begins on 1 Jul.
Across Asia, China bans unqualified creators from publishing financial content; India bars registered financial institutions from paying unregistered influencers; Singapore requires corporations to take full legal liability for marketing claims made by the influencers they hire.
