What It Means for Hong Kong Crypto & OTC Exchange Shops

On February 18, 2026, as global crypto markets were still reeling from a near $2 trillion wipeout over the previous months, the Trump family chose this exact moment to host the World Liberty Forum — a high-profile crypto gathering at Mar-a-Lago, their private Florida resort. The timing was deliberate, the guest list was jaw-dropping, and the ripple effects are being felt far beyond American shores. If you're a Hong Kong crypto investor or run an OTC exchange shop, you might assume this is "an American thing." But when the global stablecoin landscape shifts this dramatically — and when the primary currency your customers trade (USDT) suddenly has a politically-charged competitor on the same blockchain rails — it becomes very much your business.

World Liberty Financial is a crypto venture co-founded by Donald Trump and his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. The forum was convened to discuss the U.S. digital asset market structure bill and the evolving legislative framework around stablecoin regulation. The day-long gathering attracted around 500 participants, including Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman, New York Stock Exchange Group President Lynn Martin, and a range of current and former financial regulators. Coin Edition This was no longer a crypto industry talking to itself. The conference signalled a major shift in sentiment among traditional financial institutions that had previously criticised digital assets, with asset managers and hedge fund executives discussing how established institutions could integrate blockchain infrastructure into existing financial systems. Coin Edition Goldman Sachs' David Solomon even disclosed publicly that he personally holds a small amount of Bitcoin — a notable reversal from a man who once questioned crypto's legitimacy at every opportunity.

World Liberty Financial's two flagship products are the WLFI governance token and the USD1 stablecoin. And USD1's rise is directly relevant to the Hong Kong OTC market. USD1 reached a market cap of approximately $4.7 billion in Q1 2026, growing 50%, and has been described as the fastest stablecoin to go from zero to $1 billion in history. StablecoinInsider More significantly, Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX used USD1 to settle a $2 billion investment into Binance — the largest stablecoin-settled transaction in crypto history. StablecoinInsider USD1 is now deployed on Ethereum, BNB Chain, Solana, and critically for Hong Kong — the Tron (TRC-20) network. This is the exact same blockchain infrastructure that powers the majority of USDT flows in Hong Kong's OTC exchange shops. USDT still commands a dominant 60.64% share of the stablecoin market, but USD1 expanded by roughly 50% during a broader period of stablecoin consolidation StablecoinInsider, a growth rate that no competitor has matched in the same timeframe.

Many Hong Kong OTC shop operators may assume that Washington's crypto politics have no bearing on their daily cash-for-USDT business. But the impact is more concrete than it appears across several dimensions.

Hong Kong's OTC exchange shops are currently caught between two converging pressures — one regulatory, one competitive. On the regulatory side, Hong Kong's Financial Services and Treasury Bureau and the SFC launched a public consultation to bring OTC crypto exchange shops under a formal licensing regime, with no exemption period, and penalties of up to 7 years' imprisonment and HK$5 million in fines for unlicensed operations. Abmedia Of the estimated 200+ physical OTC outlets, the vast majority cannot absorb the compliance costs. An industry shakeout is already underway. On the competitive side, USD1's rapid institutional adoption — including its Tron deployment — is beginning to erode the assumption that USDT is the only stablecoin that matters for retail crypto-to-cash conversion in Hong Kong. Shops that survive this transition will likely be those that can serve both sides: licensed operators who can legally handle multiple stablecoins, offer proper KYC documentation, and speak to the growing number of customers who want compliance assurances before transacting. The era of walking in with cash and no questions asked is over.

The World Liberty Forum sent a clear signal that the walls between TradFi and crypto have come down. When Goldman Sachs' CEO admits to holding Bitcoin at a Trump-hosted crypto conference, the mainstream legitimacy question is effectively settled. For Hong Kong — which positions itself as the bridge between East and West financial markets — this convergence is strategically significant. The SFC's VATP licensing framework anticipated this direction, by anchoring crypto assets within the same compliance infrastructure as traditional finance rather than allowing them to operate in a parallel grey market. As of February 2026, 12 companies are authorised to operate virtual asset trading platforms in Hong Kong, including OSL Digital Securities and HashKey Exchange. Fintechnews These platforms represent the regulated infrastructure that will handle the next phase of Hong Kong's crypto market — including whatever new stablecoins gain traction globally.

Given the WLFI controversy and the ongoing regulatory reset in Hong Kong's OTC sector, here are the key takeaways:

For fiat-to-crypto conversion, SFC-licensed platforms like HashKey Exchange or OSL remain the safest option — your assets are independently custodied and cannot be frozen without legal process Treat USD1 as one to watch, but not yet a primary trading or settlement currency in Hong Kong until its regulatory status is formally recognised locally If using a physical OTC exchange shop, verify whether they hold or have applied for a licence under Hong Kong's new virtual asset framework before transacting Any project offering staking yields on WLFI or similar politically-backed tokens carries governance risk that most retail investors cannot adequately price — the Justin Sun case makes this explicit