On the 26th floor of Tower 535 in Hong Kong's Causeway Bay, Weng Xiaoqi, dressed in a plain white suit without a tie, sits in a similarly white swivel chair. The screen behind him displays the 2025 financial report data of SINOHOPE TECH. "We could have pushed forward stubbornly in October, which would have made the financial report look impressive, but we chose to ensure our clients didn't lose money." This statement by Weng Xiaoqi, CEO of SINOHOPE TECH (01611), seemingly counterintuitive to business logic, is precisely the key to unraveling the puzzle of this Hong Kong-listed company's 2025 financial results. Rewinding two years, SINOHOPE TECH was deeply mired in a "low-margin OTC dependency": 80% of its 2023 revenue came from OTC business, yet the thin-margin-high-volume strategy put pressure on profitability. Behind the 4.5-fold revenue growth in 2025 lies a slight net loss of HK$9 million. However, the bigger story is hidden within the "Digital Asset Private Banking and Stewardship Service System" released on November 5th.
In less than two months, prospective clients surged from 130 to over 460, with actual serviced clients exceeding 260, representing a near tripling of the cumulative client count. The asset scale of the licensed Japanese exchange BitTrade reached ¥17.6 billion, a threefold increase from 2024, propelling it into the top five comprehensive rankings locally. Yet beneath the tip of this data iceberg, SINOHOPE TECH is attempting to answer a core question concerning the future of Hong Kong's virtual asset market over the next five years: as the regulatory framework gradually matures and traditional wealth floods into the crypto world like a tide, does the market need yet another trading app, or a trustworthy "translator" and "ferryman"? The answer lies in the "debate between light and heavy" that Weng Xiaoqi repeatedly mentions.
The traditional VATP (Virtual Asset Trading Platform) model is akin to a heavy-asset vessel, requiring a team of hundreds, a licensing cycle spanning years, and massive market investment just to tap into the retail market. SINOHOPE TECH, instead, has chosen to build a "light-speed boat"—focusing on serving institutions and high-net-worth clients with a team of just 160 people and operational costs merely a quarter of a VATP's, while covering 80% of the target market. This "lightness" is reflected not only in costs but also in strategic clarity: not competing with Binance and OKX for retail clients, nor battling Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on brand, but becoming the "missing link" between the two. "We are not building another exchange; we aim to become the 'super connector' linking traditional finance with Web3," Weng declares. The coffee in his hand has long gone cold, yet his gaze remains fixed on the "Six Major Capability Matrix for Private Banking Services" on the screen—each element, from concierge-style account opening to crypto trusts, directly addresses the core pain points of high-net-worth clients.
On an afternoon in early 2026, sunlight from Victoria Harbour painted the glass curtain wall in warm hues as Weng Xiaoqi engaged in an in-depth dialogue. The conversation began with the full-year 2025 financial report, touching upon Bitcoin's counter-cyclical allocation, the proactive halt of DAT products, Hong Kong's "slow but steady" regulatory approach, and the lightweight logic for global replication. This self-proclaimed "rational optimist" CEO consistently anchored the discussion on "long-termism" and "client win-win"—just as he stated: "The true moat is not the height of technological barriers, but the depth of service density." Behind the financial report lies a strategic pivot: from "volume expansion" to "self-sustaining profitability." In 2025, SINOHOPE TECH's revenue grew 4.5 times year-on-year, reaching HK$8.6 billion. While impressive at first glance, the core had fundamentally changed. The primary growth driver remained OTC business—but this segment operated on a "low-margin, high-volume" strategy, contributing limited profit. Weng Xiaoqi candidly admitted this was a path dependency from the previous management team. "Using low prices to capture market share can boost scale short-term, but it's unsustainable long-term," he noted. Since he took over, the company swiftly adjusted its course: no longer pursuing revenue scale, but focusing on optimizing the profit structure. Starting in 2026, all OTC trades must guarantee a reasonable profit margin—"higher when the market is good, lower when it's bad, but it must be healthy."
Concurrently, the true profit engine was taking shape—the digital asset private banking business. Weng explained the 2025 net loss as a "necessary cost of strategic transformation": "The volume expansion in OTC was to validate market demand, but the real profit code is hidden within the private banking services." The courage for this shift stems from a profound insight into market structure. Over the past decade, all crypto industry infrastructure has served retail investors—from trading gateways to wallet tools, with "helping retail enter the market" being the sole narrative. However, Weng discovered that in the Eastern world, the toolchain for "helping institutions enter the market" is almost non-existent. "The US has Coinbase and Galaxy serving institutions, but Hong Kong has none. This bull run is driven by European and American institutions, with Hong Kong's participation extremely low—there's a missing link in the industry chain." This "gap" is SINOHOPE TECH's new frontier. Since its official launch on November 5, 2025, prospective account-opening clients skyrocketed from 130 to over 460, actual serviced clients surpassed 260, and the cumulative client count nearly tripled. The client profile is clear: listed companies and their executives, family offices, ultra-high-net-worth individuals—all "high-quality clients" possessing long-term allocation intent and trading capability. "An executive from a listed company wanted to allocate crypto assets but was deterred by an exchange's KYC process. Our steward spent three days providing on-site support, from compliance explanations to custody solution design, accompanying them throughout the process. This is the 'human touch' traditional financial institutions struggle to offer," Weng shared. He attributes the nearly threefold growth in SINOHOPE's private banking clients precisely to this "high-touch + professional" service model.
In the Japanese market, BitTrade's transformation similarly validates the logic of "value reconstruction." Post-acquisition in 2025, SINOHOPE TECH did not chase short-term trading volume but focused on serving institutional clients, launching direct exchange channels between yen and cryptocurrencies. By year-end, BitTrade's revenue reached HK$360 million, with institutional clients contributing over 60%, making it one of the most profitable licensed exchanges locally. With the business model preliminarily validated, financial targets are clear: achieve monthly profitability by end-2026, full profitability in 2027; surpass 1,000 total clients, becoming a leading digital asset service provider in Asia-Pacific. "Hong Kong VATP costs are heavy, involving hundreds of people and long operational cycles, making global replication hopeless," Weng states bluntly. SINOHOPE TECH's solution is encapsulated in one word: "light." Its private banking system deliberately ignores the retail market—"Hong Kong essentially lacks a retail market"—covering over 80% of the institutional target market at about a quarter of VATP costs. This lightweight approach enables low-cost global replication capability. In 2026, SINOHOPE TECH will initiate a "copy-paste" strategy: leveraging BitTrade to introduce the private banking system into Japan, while expanding into Dubai, Singapore, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan. The "lightweight licensing advantage" is key. "We aren't applying for VATP licenses; we target lightweight licenses similar to Hong Kong's 'VA dealing' category. Some regions don't even require licenses, just local partners," Weng reveals. Such licenses have short application cycles (mostly under six months) and low costs, enabling rapid deployment.
This dialectic of "light" versus "heavy" permeates SINOHOPE TECH's strategic choices. While the industry obsesses over applying for full VATP licenses, they opt only for Type 4 (advising) and Type 9 (asset management) licenses, voluntarily forgoing stablecoin issuance licenses to instead provide supporting services like custody, trading, and exchange for issuers. "We don't compete with OKX and Binance for retail; we serve their blind spot—institutional investors," Weng explains. This differentiated competition allows SINOHOPE TECH to find a "third space" between traditional banks and retail platforms. Faced with the slow moves of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, SINOHOPE TECH's iteration speed is overwhelming—"from strategy proposal to product launch in just months." Confronting retail giants like Binance, they simply avoid head-on competition, focusing solely on high-net-worth clients. "Large ships are hard to turn; small boats maneuver easily," Weng analogizes, describing traditional banks' dilemma. Already, over a dozen traditional financial institutions have begun exploring collaborations with SINOHOPE TECH. "They leave specialized tasks to specialists, outsourcing risks they can't fully grasp to us." Navigating the cyclical nature of the crypto industry, Weng Xiaoqi maintains a streak of "contrarian thinking." During the market downturn in 2025, SINOHOPE TECH invested $5 million in Bitcoin, with an average cost around $82,000 and the lowest purchase price接近 $80,000. "This wasn't just a business necessity but also a signal of confidence in 'counter-cyclical allocation' to our clients," he explains. "The value of professional institutions lies in remaining rational when others panic and calm when others are euphoric."
This rationality is equally evident in profitability planning: 2025 laid the transformation foundation, 2026 focuses on building self-sustaining capability, aiming for monthly profitability by year-end, and full profitability in 2027. Weng breaks down this profitability target into "Three Key Ballasts": • Client Quality: Focus on long-term capital from listed companies, family offices, etc.; target exceeding 1,000 total clients by end-2026, contributing over 80% of profit. • Cost Control: Administrative expenses have stabilized due to completed talent hiring; the 160-person team is only a third the size of traditional licensed exchanges. • Capital Reserves: HK$450 million in book funds is sufficient to support business development; large-scale global investments will precede consideration of new funding rounds. Weng is exceptionally prudent regarding capital expenditure. Funding priorities are clear: prioritize scaled investment post-business validation; avoid heavy expansion before achieving a clear ROI of "HK$1 input generating HK$2 output." Regarding M&A, "it's possible, but we will proceed very carefully." On the industry's future, Weng believes the influence of the "four-year cycle theory" is waning: "Previously, Bitcoin halving was the core market driver, but now institutional funds represent a growing share, making the market structure more robust. Coupled with liquidity释放 from expected rate cuts and safe-haven demand due to geopolitical risks, crypto assets are entering an 'institutional allocation era'." "Hong Kong's regulation over the past three years has been 'slow but steady,' with no major risk events, laying the groundwork for industry acceleration," Weng says. SINOHOPE TECH is actively participating in regulatory dialogue, hoping to become a "model for compliant innovation."
SINOHOPE TECH's organizational culture bears distinct Web3 characteristics and Weng Xiaoqi's personal imprint. "Eliminating office politics and breaking down silos" is an iron rule. Despite the team blending backgrounds from old Huobi, SINOHOPE TECH, HashKey, and traditional finance, "no one calls me 'President Weng'; it's just 'Livio'." A high-frequency transparent meeting mechanism (3 fixed weekly meetings + 2-3 thematic discussions) ensures open decision-making and avoids misinformation. The talent strategy emphasizes "cost-effectiveness and growth potential": an elite model where "one person does the work of three, earning the pay of two," deliberately controlling headcount, avoiding expensive hires of established names, and instead cultivating "growth-oriented"骨干. This "Whampoa Military Academy" model previously made Huobi a talent cradle in the crypto sphere and made HK a talent hub in Hong Kong's compliant market; now SINOHOPE TECH is replicating this path. A team foundation of "primarily Web3 talent, structurally supplemented by traditional finance talent" supports this. The lean team of 160 corresponds to an expansion pace that saw client numbers triple in four months, targeting over 1,000 clients by year-end. Personally, Weng's schedule has reduced from 14 hours daily initially to 10-12 hours now, as the matured team requires less hands-on involvement. For entrepreneurial idols, he admires Musk's disruptive innovation and ByteDance's capability for continuous business evolution and expansion. "In three years, what will be SINOHOPE TECH's positioning in the industry?" posed as the final question. "The Goldman Sachs of the cryptocurrency industry," Weng Xiaoqi states with conviction.
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