Hong Kong HashKey exchange reported: only half a year of cash flow left, laying off one third of staff, employees holding Platform Token $HSK fell by 85%..
Bad news from HashKey, Hong Kong's first licensed cryptocurrency exchange? Foresight pointed out today (30) that HashKey has only half a year's cash flow left on its account, and it is laying off employees on a large scale, and the platform coin HSK has also fallen sharply by 85% in the past half year... What exactly happened? (Synopsis: HashKey Cloud and Google Cloud Publish White Paper: The Future of Stake, Re-Staking and RWA) (Background supplement: HashKey OTC brand upgrades to "HashKey OTC Global" strengthens global compliance layout) Platform coins plunged 85% in half a year, what happened to HashKey, the first licensed retail cryptocurrency exchange in Hong Kong, China? According to CoinGecko, from December 30, 2024 to May 30, 2025, HSK fell from its highest point of 2.38 U to 0.35 U, a half-year decline of 85%. The decline was so high that many eco-supporters, token holders and even HashKey employees did not expect that they would suffer a high investment loss. "I want to defend my rights when I fall." A former HashKey employee said helplessly. There may be many HashKey employees who think this way. "More than 200 current and former employees are expected to hold HSK." "Almost all employees of the HashKey exchange and public chain hold HSK, and many employees also pay HSK." It is understood that HashKey internal employees can exchange up to 50% of their salaries for HSK token distribution. Many employees not only hold HSK through bonuses, but also exchange their monthly wages for HSK. Behind the poor performance of HSK, some deeper problems in the development of HashKey are also gradually emerging. "HashKey was overwhelmed by the high cost and needed to seek further financing to support the continued development of its existing multi-line business." Another practitioner said. According to multiple people familiar with the matter, HashKey's financial situation has been tight. One practitioner, speaking on condition of anonymity, said HashKey has recently embarked on large-scale layoffs, with one-third of its employees laid off and some IT vendors being delayed in payment or even termination. Two practitioners from different companies who are close to HashKey said: "HashKey only has half a year's cash flow on its account." In this regard, the author asked the HashKey official for verification of the above information. HashKey said that it is true that some HSKs are issued to the team as an incentive, and the high cost of compliance is high. However, for the recent large-scale layoffs, HashKey said that it was not true, did not lay off employees, and said that the group's global workforce has remained above 600. What happened to Hashkey that caused its token price to change dramatically? What is the current financial and profitability situation, and through which channels is it seeking new financing? What problems have been exposed by the development of the crypto industry in Hong Kong in the past three years? This has become a topic of concern for many practitioners. "It's too money-burning" "It's too money-burning to be a compliant cryptocurrency exchange." An industry insider pointed out. Compliance is a franchise license, but also a mountain on the shoulders of startups. As one of the core assets of HashKey Group, HashKey Exchange has high expectations. However, at the same time, it is also a real gold-swallowing beast. "[Early] $100 million was spent in less than three months." An insider close to HashKey Exchange revealed. "[Now] the average monthly HashKey Exchange costs about $10 million." "Thirty or four percent of this is the cost of compliance." "At its lowest, it's more than $5 million a month, and when it's high, it's $20 or 30 million a month." As for the specific amount of monthly costs, HashKey's official reply involves company secrets and is not easy to disclose. Compared with other cryptocurrency exchanges, HashKey Exchange has borne more compliance costs since its inception, such as the need to recruit a group of compliance executives, the need to be audited by three of the four major audit firms, and the need to buy insurance for users' assets. And these are all costs that other cryptocurrency exchanges generally do not need. These are the price of compliance, a mountain that weighs on compliant cryptocurrency exchanges like HashKey. The author has previously exposed the compliance costs of Hong Kong crypto exchanges through several articles: it takes HK$20 million to HK$50 million to apply for a VASP license; The regulation requires at least two ROs (HashKey has four), and one practitioner revealed that the salary of each RO ranges from HK$2 million to HK$5 million; Regulatory requirements must cooperate with the insurance company and pay fees to the insurance company; Regulatory requirements and audit firms, such as HashKey that works with three of the Big Four audit firms, one insider revealed that one of the audit firms' annual fees is 5 to 10 times higher than the average traditional industry project, which comes at an additional cost: These are constantly stacked as part of the cost of a "compliant cryptocurrency exchange". As an emerging cryptocurrency exchange, it has to bear more costs than its competitors when it has not fully grown. Meanwhile, HashKey is looking for more sources of financing. According to public information, HashKey Group has brought in a number of institutional investors. In January 2024, HashKey Group closed a Series A funding round with approximately $100 million. An insider revealed that CMB and OKX are the main investors in this round of financing. In February 2025, Gaorong Capital invested $30 million in HashKey Group. Although the amount of financing is not low, as previously analyzed, the compliance cost of HashKey Exchange itself is extremely high. Assuming a cost of $10 million per month, more than $200 million has been spent so far. This is also putting pressure on the entire HashKey Group. An institutional practitioner, who did not want to be named, said: "There is almost only half a year's cash flow." Under such pressure, HashKey also began to reduce costs in all aspects. One practitioner, speaking on condition of anonymity, said HashKey has recently embarked on large-scale layoffs, with one-third of its employees laid off and some IT vendors being delayed in payment or even termination. However, HashKey said that this information is not true and said that it has not laid off employees. Reducing costs is just one of the ways, how to get more cash flow? Another practitioner said: "HashKey is seeking more VC financing and has not given up the idea of listing in Hong Kong stocks." Heavy restrictions Doing a compliant exchange is not only too expensive, but also has many restrictions on normal revenue channels. HashKey Exc...
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Hong Kong HashKey exchange reported: only half a year of cash flow left, laying off one third of staff, employees holding Platform Token $HSK fell by 85%..
Bad news from HashKey, Hong Kong's first licensed cryptocurrency exchange? Foresight pointed out today (30) that HashKey has only half a year's cash flow left on its account, and it is laying off employees on a large scale, and the platform coin HSK has also fallen sharply by 85% in the past half year... What exactly happened? (Synopsis: HashKey Cloud and Google Cloud Publish White Paper: The Future of Stake, Re-Staking and RWA) (Background supplement: HashKey OTC brand upgrades to "HashKey OTC Global" strengthens global compliance layout) Platform coins plunged 85% in half a year, what happened to HashKey, the first licensed retail cryptocurrency exchange in Hong Kong, China? According to CoinGecko, from December 30, 2024 to May 30, 2025, HSK fell from its highest point of 2.38 U to 0.35 U, a half-year decline of 85%. The decline was so high that many eco-supporters, token holders and even HashKey employees did not expect that they would suffer a high investment loss. "I want to defend my rights when I fall." A former HashKey employee said helplessly. There may be many HashKey employees who think this way. "More than 200 current and former employees are expected to hold HSK." "Almost all employees of the HashKey exchange and public chain hold HSK, and many employees also pay HSK." It is understood that HashKey internal employees can exchange up to 50% of their salaries for HSK token distribution. Many employees not only hold HSK through bonuses, but also exchange their monthly wages for HSK. Behind the poor performance of HSK, some deeper problems in the development of HashKey are also gradually emerging. "HashKey was overwhelmed by the high cost and needed to seek further financing to support the continued development of its existing multi-line business." Another practitioner said. According to multiple people familiar with the matter, HashKey's financial situation has been tight. One practitioner, speaking on condition of anonymity, said HashKey has recently embarked on large-scale layoffs, with one-third of its employees laid off and some IT vendors being delayed in payment or even termination. Two practitioners from different companies who are close to HashKey said: "HashKey only has half a year's cash flow on its account." In this regard, the author asked the HashKey official for verification of the above information. HashKey said that it is true that some HSKs are issued to the team as an incentive, and the high cost of compliance is high. However, for the recent large-scale layoffs, HashKey said that it was not true, did not lay off employees, and said that the group's global workforce has remained above 600. What happened to Hashkey that caused its token price to change dramatically? What is the current financial and profitability situation, and through which channels is it seeking new financing? What problems have been exposed by the development of the crypto industry in Hong Kong in the past three years? This has become a topic of concern for many practitioners. "It's too money-burning" "It's too money-burning to be a compliant cryptocurrency exchange." An industry insider pointed out. Compliance is a franchise license, but also a mountain on the shoulders of startups. As one of the core assets of HashKey Group, HashKey Exchange has high expectations. However, at the same time, it is also a real gold-swallowing beast. "[Early] $100 million was spent in less than three months." An insider close to HashKey Exchange revealed. "[Now] the average monthly HashKey Exchange costs about $10 million." "Thirty or four percent of this is the cost of compliance." "At its lowest, it's more than $5 million a month, and when it's high, it's $20 or 30 million a month." As for the specific amount of monthly costs, HashKey's official reply involves company secrets and is not easy to disclose. Compared with other cryptocurrency exchanges, HashKey Exchange has borne more compliance costs since its inception, such as the need to recruit a group of compliance executives, the need to be audited by three of the four major audit firms, and the need to buy insurance for users' assets. And these are all costs that other cryptocurrency exchanges generally do not need. These are the price of compliance, a mountain that weighs on compliant cryptocurrency exchanges like HashKey. The author has previously exposed the compliance costs of Hong Kong crypto exchanges through several articles: it takes HK$20 million to HK$50 million to apply for a VASP license; The regulation requires at least two ROs (HashKey has four), and one practitioner revealed that the salary of each RO ranges from HK$2 million to HK$5 million; Regulatory requirements must cooperate with the insurance company and pay fees to the insurance company; Regulatory requirements and audit firms, such as HashKey that works with three of the Big Four audit firms, one insider revealed that one of the audit firms' annual fees is 5 to 10 times higher than the average traditional industry project, which comes at an additional cost: These are constantly stacked as part of the cost of a "compliant cryptocurrency exchange". As an emerging cryptocurrency exchange, it has to bear more costs than its competitors when it has not fully grown. Meanwhile, HashKey is looking for more sources of financing. According to public information, HashKey Group has brought in a number of institutional investors. In January 2024, HashKey Group closed a Series A funding round with approximately $100 million. An insider revealed that CMB and OKX are the main investors in this round of financing. In February 2025, Gaorong Capital invested $30 million in HashKey Group. Although the amount of financing is not low, as previously analyzed, the compliance cost of HashKey Exchange itself is extremely high. Assuming a cost of $10 million per month, more than $200 million has been spent so far. This is also putting pressure on the entire HashKey Group. An institutional practitioner, who did not want to be named, said: "There is almost only half a year's cash flow." Under such pressure, HashKey also began to reduce costs in all aspects. One practitioner, speaking on condition of anonymity, said HashKey has recently embarked on large-scale layoffs, with one-third of its employees laid off and some IT vendors being delayed in payment or even termination. However, HashKey said that this information is not true and said that it has not laid off employees. Reducing costs is just one of the ways, how to get more cash flow? Another practitioner said: "HashKey is seeking more VC financing and has not given up the idea of listing in Hong Kong stocks." Heavy restrictions Doing a compliant exchange is not only too expensive, but also has many restrictions on normal revenue channels. HashKey Exc...