Crypto and blockchain experts, Hong Kong wants you

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It is not only Malta that is actively promoting itself as the “Blockchain Island,” with Hong Kong now also joining the fray to attract top digital talent to the island.

The government of this special administrative region of China is now actively considering promotional and administrative measures to facilitate the immigration of what it is terming as ‘quality people’ from all over the world. Hong Kong authorities have drafted a list of the professions that it wishes to target and out of the eleven listed, cryptocurrency and blockchain are included. This is slightly ironic, since on mainland China, there has been a ferocious crackdown on anything to do with cryptocurrency with communication giant WeChat, and the largest commodity trader in the world, Alibaba, banning cryptocurrency-related promotions and businesses from their networks.

The announcement, published on the Hong Kong government’s website, was titled, “Talent list to attract quality people.” The so-called Talent List contains 11 professions, most of which are most required for the economic development of the island.

Aside from waste treatment specialists, engineers and naval architects, the city also wants to attract “experienced professionals in fintech” as well as innovation and technology experts in fields like distributed ledger technologies (DLT), or blockchain, data engineering, including mining and analytics, artificial intelligence, robotics and cyber security, among others.

Hong Kong is also looking for experienced professionals in asset management, including trust fund management, as well as legal experts who specialize in resolving international financial and investor-state disputes and lawyers with knowledge in cross-border transactions from investing or host states.

“The promulgation of the Talent List is one of our major initiatives to enhance our competitive advantages in attracting international talents, creating cluster effects, stimulating the development of local talents and propelling Hong Kong forward,” said Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, chief secretary for Administration and chairman of the Human Resources Planning Commission.

Eligible candidates will have their immigration facilitated via Hong Kong’s Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS), which has an annual quota of 1,000. Foreign nationals approved under QMAS will not need to secure an offer of local employment before they move to Hong Kong. Furthermore, applicants who meet the specifications under the new Talent List will receive bonus marks in the General Points Test of the QMAS.

Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.