A Lucky Break

A man (on the left) is seen throwing out banknotes from the top of a building

If you were in Sham Shui Po this afternoon, you would have seen something out of a movie -- thousands of HK$100 banknotes falling from the sky.

People on Fuk Wa Street scrambled to collect the money -- it looked legit -- though the police warned the public to handover the cash. In the end the police collected around HK$5,000 and didn't arrest anyone.

There was a rush of people trying to collect the money

It is believed the incident was a publicity stunt by a man known as "Coin Young Master", whose real name is Wong Ching-kit, who is believed to own Epoch Cryptocurrency, a Facebook page that promotes cryptocurrency.

In a Facebook video post after the stunt, Wong claimed he was "robbing the rich to help the poor". He also asked where else people would like to see the "strange phenomenon" or money falling from the sky.

Some people were worried he was causing a disturbance, while others were concerned about the source of the money.

Groan.

Sham Shui Po is Hong Kong's poorest neighbourhood, and he did intend to give it to people, so if you are there to collect the falling banknotes, why not?

Fintech Company Pays Through the Roof for Rent

Cheung Kong Center has office space if you're willing to pay through the roof

 Housing prices aren't the only real estate prices going up -- office space is too.

Today it was reported a cryptocurrency trading company has signed a lease to take over the 45th floor of Cheung Kong Center -- the headquarters of tycoon Li Ka-shing -- for a whopping HK$225 per square foot. For almost 20,000 square feet, that's almost US$600,000 a month.

The going rate in the building is HK$200 to HK$210, but BitMEX must have been keen to secure the entire floor which is why they were willing to shell out even more.

Cryptocurrency trader BitMEX is renting at Cheung Kong

This will have a knock-on effect on other companies renting in Central -- meaning they will have to pay more too.

Looks like cryptocurrency traders are the ones who can afford the outrageous rents in Central because everyone else is moving to places like Wong Chuk Hang and further east like Quarry Bay.

Managing director of Cushman and Wakefield John Siu made an intriguing comment on the news of BitMEX renting at Cheung Kong Center. "In the past half year, we've seen more digital currency or blockchain companies coming to look for spaces in Central. [Central] can polish the image of a company."

Does BitMEX, which was founded in 2014 need some embellishment? In an interview in July with one of the founders, the company is worth US$3.6 billion and its trading volume is US$3.3 billion in 24 hours, making it one of the largest trading platforms of bitcoin in the world.

Fintech companies like the prestigious Central address

Denis Ma of JLL or Jones Lang Lasalle believes fintech companies are going to be the ones looking for space in Central, as traditional financial institutions have slowed their expansion in Hong Kong.

Can you imagine paying US$600,000 a month in rent? In the United States, one can get a house for that -- every month. Li Ka-shing must be laughing in his retirement. While cryptocurrencies might be virtual, you still need an office to trade them...