The draft’s authors want to licence virtual asset service providers (VASPs) and register precious metal and stone traders (DPMS). The intention is to require companies operating in the two sectors to comply with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist funding regulations. The new requirements for VASPs are comparable to those that apply to traditional institutions in the financial services sector and they will have to meet similar financial adequacy requirements, Andrew Leelarthaepin, crypto exchange Bitstamp’s managing director for Asia Pacific, noted in article published by the South China Morning Post. In his opinion, that recognizes crypto firms as a component of Hong…