Nansha, Guangzhou, builds a cross-border innovation pilot zone for digital assets to promote the development of the digital economy in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Recently, a well-known digital asset financial service group signed a memorandum of cooperation with Guangzhou Data Exchange. Both parties will, with government support, promote the construction of a digital asset cross-border flow innovation pilot zone in Nansha, Guangzhou, establish a compliance investor mechanism, explore compliance issuance channels for data circulation transactions and innovative digital asset trading services in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and help the Greater Bay Area create a new highland for digital economy development.

This cooperation is a key step for both parties to implement the "Opinions on Financial Support for the Deepening of Comprehensive Cooperation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area" issued by the People's Bank of China and other departments, as well as to actively respond to national strategic deployments and deeply integrate into the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. By taking the collaborative development in the digital asset field as a breakthrough, it aims to promote the deep integration of Hong Kong's financial resources with the technological and industrial resources of the mainland. It fully leverages the advantages of the mainland's real industrial resources and Hong Kong's status as an international financial center, which possesses advantages in global capital aggregation and efficient financial services, to form an organic linkage and deep complementarity.

Both parties will take specific practical cases as entry points to fully connect the digital asset trading rule system between Guangdong and Hong Kong, jointly formulate standards related to data circulation and innovative digital asset trading services, and actively cultivate a compliant digital asset service ecosystem. Through deep cooperation between the exchanges in Guangdong and Hong Kong, the digital asset industry ecosystem, compliance, and trial-and-error iteration paths can be clarified. Based on the clear safety red line and compliance matters of institutional innovation, we will anchor the underlying assets on the blockchain, press the acceleration button for digital asset trading innovation services in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, promote the full-chain development of digital asset projects from creative incubation to industrial landing, and build a digital asset innovation ecosystem with global resource allocation capabilities, thereby comprehensively enhancing the region's strategic position in the global digital economy landscape.

It is noteworthy that since its inauguration in Nansha in September 2022, the Guangzhou Data Exchange has built a full-chain data circulation and trading ecosystem "horizontally to cities and vertically to industries," covering 25 industries such as smart manufacturing, finance, and health care, and has established 14 data integration application service bases across the country. As a key node for the circulation of data elements in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, this exchange has deeply explored the mechanism for cross-border two-way data circulation, relying on the "data special zone" to promote the cross-border flow of data elements. It has already advanced the "offshore trade" of cross-border data products to complete the registration of data assets, assisting Guangzhou in achieving a "zero" breakthrough in the registration of cross-border data assets, promoting the transaction of "ESG rating data" with partners located in Hong Kong, and facilitating the implementation of the first cross-border transaction of ESG-type data in the country.

This cooperation will undoubtedly further promote the innovative development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in the fields of digital assets and data trading, laying the foundation for building a more open and interconnected digital economy ecosystem.