Instruct the Polkadot Community Foundation (PCF) to sign a strategic cooperation agreement with Hong Kong’s Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises (OASES), on behalf of the Polkadot DAO. 

Proposer: PolkaPort East (PPE)

Recipient: Polkadot Community Foundation (PFC)

Track: Small Spender Track

1. Summary

PolkaPort East (PPE), a HK company focused on investor relations and growth initiatives for the Polkadot ecosystem in Asia, proposes that the Polkadot Community Foundation (PCF) enter into a strategic cooperation agreement with the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises (OASES) in Hong Kong. As part of this agreement, the PCF will establish a wholly-owned subsidiary in Hong Kong to facilitate operations, enhance regional engagement, and unlock new growth opportunities for the Polkadot ecosystem. 

2. Purpose

The strategic cooperation with OASES aims to:

1. Position Polkadot as a Leading Web3 Ecosystem in Hong Kong: Leverage Hong Kong’s status as a global financial hub and its supportive Web3 policies to attract developers, investors, and enterprises to the Polkadot ecosystem.
2. Access OASES Support: Utilize OASES’s resources, including financial incentives, regulatory guidance, and networking opportunities, to accelerate Polkadot’s growth in Asia.
3. Establish a Local Presence: Create a PCF subsidiary in Hong Kong to streamline operations, engage with local stakeholders, and build a robust Polkadot community in the Greater Bay Area.
4. Drive Ecosystem Adoption: Facilitate partnerships with local governments, universities, fintechs, and Web3 projects to enhance Polkadot’s technical and community adoption.
5. Relocate Polkadot-based project to HK: Support and guide Polkadot-based projects to partially or fully relocate to HK, to take advantage of these government incentives and regulatory framework.

This initiative builds on Hong Kong’s proactive Web3 policies, including government-backed subsidies and Cyberport’s incubation program, with which PPE has a strong existing partnership. We believe this will create a favorable environment for Polkadot’s expansion and incentivise more Polkadot-based projects to physically located to HK. 

3. Background

About PolkaPort East: Established in Hong Kong with support from the Web3 Foundation’s Decentralized Futures (DF) grant, PPE leads IR and growth initiatives for Polkadot in Asia. PPE’s activities include community meetups, technical seminars, and investor gatherings. The company’s directors are Max Rebol, Vincent Chan and Thibault Perréard. Learn more at www.polkaporteast.xyz

About the HK Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises (OASES). Established by the Hong Kong government, OASES is dedicated to attracting high-potential enterprises in strategic sectors such as fintech, biotech, and advanced technology to bolster Hong Kong’s position as a global economic hub. Operating directly under the Financial Secretary’s Office (HK equivalent to Ministry of Finance), OASES provides tailored support, including financial incentives, regulatory guidance, and access to a vast network of industry stakeholders, to facilitate business setup and growth. Notably, since last year OASES actively supports Web3 initiatives – for example through government-owned Cyberport – by offering resources and partnerships to blockchain and decentralized technology projects. This aligns with Hong Kong’s ambition to become a leading Web3 hub. There are 84 teams in the OASES Enterprise, with some of the largest companies in the world (JD, Huawei, Lenovo, Ant Digittal, Webank, etc.). By being one of the strategic OASES Enterprises, Polkadot will be able to directly connect with all of the enterprise teams and explore collaborations. Learn more at www.oases.gov.hk/en

About the Polkadot Community Foundation (PCF): The PCF is a non-profit organisation incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. It has been designed to take instructions from Polkadot OpenGov, and execute them “in the real world”. It is able to enter into legally enforceable contracts on behalf of the Polkadot DAO. Learn more at wiki.polkadot.network/general/pcf/ 

4. Proposal Details

If this referendum is approved, the PFC will be instructed to take the following two steps:

4.1 Establish a PCF Subsidiary in Hong Kong

The PCF will establish a wholly-owned subsidiary in Hong Kong, to serve as a regional legal entity for an initial period of 2 years. It will be able to manage Polkadot’s local legal operations, and enter into regional partnerships on behalf of the Polkadot DAO in APAC. Interactions with OASES will be managed by PPE on a day-to-day basis. However, PPE will not have any decision making authority over the subsidiary, which will remain solely with its Cayman parent. 

4.2 Sign Strategic Cooperation with OASES

The PCF will enter into a formal legal agreement with OASES. As a result, Polkadot and Polkadot-based projects may be able to secure financial subsidies, tax benefits, and office space support offered by OASES to strategic enterprises. 

5. Budget

The funds requested as part of this proposal, will be used exclusively for entity setup, legal, administration and compliance costs. We do not expect the PCF HK subsidiary to incur any operational expenses, as day-to-day operations will be conducted by PPE, which is an independently funded entity. The budget requested here will go directly to the PCF and will at no point be accessible to PPE. The budget estimate table below has been compiled by the PCF. 

Note: Legal work is difficult to estimate as it is billed hourly. The above numbers are approximations and include a buffer. Any unused funds will be returned by the PCF to the treasury. 

6. Next Steps

If this proposal passes, Polkadot-based projects who would like to take advantage of this initiative and consider partially or fully relocating to HK, can contact PPE to discuss next steps.