Crypto exchange HashKey's shares fall, recover on trading debut in Hong Kong

• HashKey Holdings' shares fell on their Hong Kong trading debut, highlighting investor caution despite the company's dominant market position.
• The shares recovered much of the decline to close 0.15% below the IPO price.
• The company reported significant losses due to its ultra-low fee strategy, which has not kept pace with operating costs.
• HashKey's growth is increasingly tied to Hong Kong's regulatory framework, affecting its market outlook.

HashKey Holdings’ shares fell about 5% in their Hong Kong trading debut, a muted reception that underscores investor caution toward the exchange’s business model despite its dominant position in the city’s regulated crypto market.

The stock opened below its IPO price and slid to around HK$6.34 by mid-morning. The decline followed the release of prospectus disclosures earlier in December, showing heavy losses but rapid growth in users and activity. They recovered to close at HK$6.67, just 0.15% below the IPO price.

The IPO comes at a time when bitcoin has pulled back from its all-time high earlier this year, to trade around $87,000, taking down the valuation of most crypto-linked stocks globally.

HashKey controls roughly three-quarters of Hong Kong’s licensed crypto trading market and processed more than $81.8 billion (HK$638 billion) in volume in 2024, according to the prospectus.

But its ultra-low fee strategy, with charges largely below 0.1%, has kept revenue growth far behind operating costs tied to licensing, custody, compliance, and infrastructure. The exchange reported cumulative net losses of about $385 million (HK$3.0 billion) between 2022 and mid-2025, with a monthly cash burn that remains elevated.

Investors appear to be weighing whether scale alone can fix that imbalance. Early trading suggests the market is reserving judgment, waiting for clearer evidence that fees can rise or that higher margin services can make a meaningful contribution.

The weak debut could also reflect a narrower growth narrative. HashKey has withdrawn from offshore retail markets, closing its Bermuda-registered entity, and is increasingly tied to Hong Kong’s regulatory framework, making its outlook more dependent on local policy, institutional participation, and capital market activity than broader crypto cycles.

HashKey is a competitor to CoinDesk's parent company, Bullish.

(UPDATE, Dec. 15, 02:52 UTC): Adds additional broader market context.
(UPDATE, Dec. 15, 13:06 UTC): Adds rebound in headline, closing price in second paragraph.

• As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
• GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
• Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.

• Hut 8 (HUT) signed a 15 year, $7 billion lease with Fluidstack for 245 MW of IT capacity at its River Bend campus, with three 5 year renewal options lifting potential contract value to about $17.7 billion.
• Google is providing a financial backstop for the base lease term, while JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are expected to lead up to 85% project level financing.
• Hut 8 shares are up around 20% in pre-market trading.

Disclosure & Polices: CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk has adopted a set of principles aimed at ensuring the integrity, editorial independence and freedom from bias of its publications. CoinDesk is part of Bullish (NYSE:BLSH), an institutionally focused global digital asset platform that provides market infrastructure and information services. Bullish owns and invests in digital asset businesses and digital assets and CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive Bullish equity-based compensation.