Hong Kong listed BC Technology Group announced it has a $91 million funding offer in exchange for a 30% stake in the company. BC owns OSL, the first regulated crypto exchange in Hong Kong and one of only two licensed exchanges. It is also a joint venture partner in Zodia Markets with SC Ventures, a Standard Chartered subsidiary. The investor is BGX Group Holdings.
BGX claims it is not an affiliated entity of Bitget Exchange. However, they have a common shareholder and Mr. Pan Zhiyong was CEO of Hong Kong-based BitgetX and BGX. “BGX’s equity investment in BC Technology Group is entirely independent of its interest in Bitget,” a BGX spokesperson told Ledger Insights via email. He also stated that Bitget and BitgetX has separate management and operational structures.
The day before the BC investment announcement, BitGetX announced its withdrawal from Hong Kong, including its license application. While it will own 30% of the equity BGX will effectively control the company. That’s because it will have the right to nominate the majority of the board of directors if shareholders approve the investment.
Chinese National Liu Shuai is the sole owner of Cayman based BGX and has a background as a fund manager. Mr. Liu is the one with a shareholding in Bitget Exchange and he founded Foresight Ventures, which acquired crypto publication The Block (according to Coindesk) this week.
BC Technology said it will use roughly 43% of the proceeds for digital asset related acquisitions.
Hong Kong started relaxing crypto access to retail investors in June and appears committed to web3 based on this month’s Hong Kong Fintech Week. Hence, OSL wants to exploit the opportunity and also expand into the security token space.
Update: clarified that the Zodia Markets joint venture is with SC Ventures. Significant changes regarding the relationship between BGX and Bitget. An earlier version stated that BGX is the owner of Bitget.
