Cryptocurrency exchanges and start-ups have expressed concerns that a licensing regime to be introduced in Hong Kong for virtual asset service providers does not go far enough to lift them out of the periphery of main street finance and to level the playing field. The proposed framework will introduce a mandatory licensing requirement for all cryptocurrency trading platforms. It had its first reading in the city’s legislature last week and the government is aiming to enact the framework into law through an amendment of the city’s anti-money-laundering ordinance by the end of this year at the earliest, according to a…