Cryptocurrency exchange HashKey on Thursday said it will begin offering its services to retail users in Hong Kong, becoming the first licensed crypto trading exchange in the city to do so.

HashKey said it received a licence update from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, allowing the exchange to expand its business scope from serving professional investors to retail users.

The Hong Kong-based exchange received a licence to operate in the city last November, making it one of two licensed crypto exchanges in Hong Kong besides rival exchange OSL.

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The city has been pulling out all the stops in its bid to emerge as a global crypto hub, from courting mainland China crypto funds to floating plans of testing a digital dollar in its mortgage market.

In June, banking regulator Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said that it had, in April, asked lenders operating in the region to try and meet the business needs of licensed crypto exchanges.