Would you mind elaborate on the clever way?
I didn't go the direct route to snag a personal HK account. Instead, I took a different path. I bought an already well-established Hong Kong company with a pretty solid history. Once I had ownership squared away, I got into deals with some Chinese factories that had their footprints in Hong Kong. My buddy lent a hand in making this happen. the whole cost was around ~ 10k.
Here's the deal: Hong Kong banks usually want you to have some legit presence in the region before they're cool with giving you an account. So, I kicked things off with a business banking account as the first step. But getting to that stage requires you to have some contracts in play. Once I had that business account in place, I started building a solid relationship with the Crypto OTC desks in Hong Kong.
I'd sell off a chunk of my crypto stash to them, and they'd move the cash from their business bank accounts. These desks often operated under different names like "Shawn Peng General Trading" or "Shang Xiau Logistics," so in the eyes of the bank, it's business as usual, you catch my drift.
From there, getting a personal bank account became a lot more doable. Even though the process might seem like a bit of a grind, it's running pretty darn smoothly now. It's become a sweet way to cash out crypto on the down-low, away from the prying eyes of the West, and it's also handy for tapping into the Asian market, including China and Singapore.
It's at best "unwise" to bank in Hong Kong, considering the outcome of the most recent Taiwan elections.
Signs are written on the wall for a new military conflict, and everybody who is on the wrong side of the conflict will bear the brunt.
Wealthy Chinese are looking to escape; they have their reasons.
So, better avoid HK and look for something more neutral.
I strongly disagree. China's reliance on Hong Kong is more critical now than ever before. Given the current economic slowdown and internal challenges faced by China, Hong Kong's unique status as "the capitalist buddha" is increasingly vital in maintaining and fostering relationships with Western businesses.
I mean if you look closely, you will find that there has been an intention to replicate Hong Kong's economic success in Beijing over the past two decades, this effort has not achieved the level of success anticipated by the CCP. and this partly due to Hong Kong's entrenched role as a global financial hub and its unique position under the 'one country, two systems' framework, which, despite recent political shifts and the introduction of the National Security Law, continues to make the city a pivotal intermediary in Sino-Western economic relations. So, HK is here to stay.
And as
@Sols said it's a good bridge to the Chinese market.