OSL Review: SFC Licence, Fees, Account Opening and the Real Cost of the Invite Reward of up to HK$1,888 in BTC

OSL's Hong Kong trading platform is operated by OSL Digital Securities Limited, which appears on the SFC's list of licensed virtual asset trading platforms under CE number BPJ213. The list gives its date of licence as 15 December 2020, the earliest of the 13 licensed platforms. According to the SFC public register, the company has held Type 1 and Type 7 licences since 15 December 2020 and a licence to operate a virtual asset trading platform under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance since 19 April 2024.

The parent company, OSL Group, is listed on HKEX (stock code 0863). OSL states that client assets are held through licensed trust structures, legally segregated from the company's own assets, and that it acts as custodian for Hong Kong's spot virtual asset ETFs. OSL serves only residents of eligible countries and regions, does not accept account opening from Mainland China, and excluded residents of the United States from its 2026 promotions.

The SFC's guidelines for virtual asset trading platform operators require licensed platforms to hold at least 98% of client virtual assets in cold storage and to maintain an SFC-approved compensation arrangement covering potential losses of 50% of assets in cold storage and 100% of assets in hot storage. OSL's custody service also carries institutional-grade insurance of up to US$1 billion and uses a multi-layer structure of cold, warm, hot and multi-party computation (MPC) wallets.

These arrangements address theft of assets or failure of the platform; they offer no protection against falling market prices. Under SFC rules, virtual asset transactions are not covered by the Investor Compensation Fund, and Hong Kong and US dollars held with OSL are not bank deposits and are therefore not protected by the Deposit Protection Scheme.

Retail clients may trade five virtual assets: bitcoin, ether, SOL, LINK and XRP, priced in Hong Kong or US dollars, with some also available in sterling or euros. Stablecoins such as USDT and USDC, and all other tokens, are open only to professional investors, who must demonstrate assets of at least HK$8,000,000.

There are two ways to trade: Pro Trade is an order book on which clients set their own prices, while Flash Trade executes at a locked quote with a single tap. As required, OSL also applies a holding limit to retail clients: the total virtual assets a client holds across all platforms may not exceed 30% of declared net liquid assets, depending on the client's risk level.

OSL's fee schedule sets the retail Pro Trade fees at 0% for makers and 0.05% for takers, the same as for professional investors. Flash Trade charges no separate commission, as the cost is built into the quote, so it is sensible to compare the quote with the Pro Trade order book before trading. By comparison, HashKey Exchange, which is also licensed, charges ordinary clients 0.29%.

Hong Kong and US dollar deposits and withdrawals carry no fee; wire withdrawals have a minimum of HK$400 for Hong Kong dollars and US$50 for US dollars, and charges levied by the receiving bank are additional. Virtual asset deposits are free, and on 24 October 2026 withdrawal fees were 0.0001 BTC for bitcoin (minimum withdrawal 0.001 BTC), 0.0009 ETH for ether and 1 XRP for XRP.

OSL opens accounts for people aged 18 to 80 who live in an eligible country or region; registration stops if the country of residence selected is not eligible. It accepts a Hong Kong identity card or a valid passport; holders of a non-permanent identity card are advised to verify with their passport instead. Applicants must also provide a bank statement or utility bill issued within the past three months showing their full name and residential address (business addresses and post office boxes are not accepted), declare their occupation, source of income and assets, and complete an eight-question virtual asset knowledge assessment, all of which must be answered correctly to proceed.

The final step of online account opening is a deposit of at least HK$10,000 (or US$1,300) from a bank account held in the applicant's sole name; joint and third-party accounts are not accepted. This is not a fee: once the account is activated, the money is credited to the OSL account and can be traded or withdrawn in full. After activation, two-factor authentication must be switched on before any deposit, withdrawal or trade.

Opened on a phone, the invite link shows a red packet that reveals three cards: HK$888 in BTC for reaching a cumulative net deposit of US$10,000 and maintaining it for 30 days (Tier A); HK$1,888 in BTC for US$100,000 maintained for 30 days (Tier B); and an extra HK$200 in BTC for invitees on completing Tier A, limited to one per person. The two tiers do not stack. On a computer the link goes straight to registration; either way it stores invite code yE48X for 90 days and enters it in the optional invite-code field.

The rewards come from two OSL campaigns: the VIP Welcome Bonus (1 June to 31 October 2026), which paid HK$888 or HK$1,888 to every enrolled new user, and the "Refer & Earn Together" invitation campaign (9 July to 31 October 2026), which added the HK$200 only for those who registered through an invitation link. Both periods ended at 23:59 on 31 October 2026. On 1 November 2026 OSL had not published terms for a new period, while its invite page and share text continue to offer up to HK$1,888 in BTC. Before depositing more than the HK$10,000 needed to open the account, check the campaign page in the OSL app for the reward, the enrol button and the terms that apply.

Disclosure: yE48X is this site's own invite code, and OSL pays us a referral reward in BTC when you qualify.

OSL's terms to 31 October 2026 set out the deposit test, and the invite page still describes the same 30-day hold. The count starts on the date of the first deposit. For a new user, that is the HK$10,000 verification deposit made when opening the account, so the 14-day window is already running when the account is activated, and the remaining funds must arrive within 14 calendar days. Net deposits equal total deposits less total withdrawals from that date, measured in US dollars and unaffected by price movements or trading results; the safest approach is to deposit the full amount in one go when opening the account.

The day on which net deposits first reach US$10,000 is Day 1, and on each of the following 30 consecutive calendar days the daily settled figure must stay at or above the threshold. This is assessed day by day, not as an average, and a withdrawal that takes net deposits below US$10,000 on any single day forfeits the entire reward. To earn the HK$1,888 tier, net deposits must be at least US$100,000 every day from Day 1, which means the full US$100,000 must already be in place on the day net deposits first reach US$10,000.

Under those terms, the tier reward is paid within 30 calendar days and the HK$200 invitee extra within 30 business days, in BTC (professional investors receive USDGO), with the quantity calculated at the OSL platform rate at the time of payment, less any conversion costs. Each person may receive the welcome reward only once in a lifetime, and OSL identifies repeat participation by account, identity, device and source of funds.

At US$1 to HK$7.8, US$10,000 is about HK$78,000. Holding it for 30 days earns HK$888 in BTC, about 1.1% of the money deposited, or HK$1,088 (about 1.4%) with the HK$200 invitee extra. The funds can stay on OSL as Hong Kong dollar cash throughout, with no need to buy any virtual asset, because qualification depends only on deposits and withdrawals.

On the cost side, if the money could otherwise earn 3% a year, 30 days' interest on HK$78,000 is about HK$192, leaving a net gain of about HK$696, or HK$896 with the extra. The HK$1,888 tier requires about HK$780,000, whose 30 days' interest at 3% is about HK$1,923, slightly more than the reward itself; only the HK$200 extra puts it ahead, by about HK$165. Once the BTC arrives, it can be sold on Pro Trade at the 0.05% taker fee, a negligible cost, but the client bears any movement in the bitcoin price before and after payment.

OSL's published terms for both campaigns ended at 23:59 on 31 October 2026; the invitation terms required invitees to register within the campaign period, and those who did could complete the deposit test afterwards. OSL has not published an end date for the reward its invite page now shows, and it may amend, suspend or terminate its campaigns at any time; the English version of its terms prevails over the Chinese. The invitee extra is not open to anyone who has previously held an OSL account, and each person may hold only one account. Opening the account requires identity verification and the HK$10,000 deposit, so a few days should be allowed for processing.

OSL also runs a 2026 VIP Program, with tiers based on assets or 30-day trading volume, but only for Hong Kong residents who provide Hong Kong proof of address. Under OSL's announcement of 26 October 2026, the VIP monthly bonus is no longer offered from 1 November 2026, while the VIP year-end bonus continues.

As at 24 October 2026, the OSL HK app is rated 4.5 on the App Store (Hong Kong) from 520 ratings and 3.8 on Google Play from 115 ratings. The App Store score includes a cluster of similarly worded five-star reviews posted in late April 2025, while more recent reviews are predominantly negative.

The more common complaints concern verification codes not arriving or failed logins during registration; accounts being closed after opening; crypto deposits being rejected under transaction screening, with slow returns; wallets needing verification before withdrawal to a personal wallet, which is difficult if the wallet holds no assets; Flash Trade quotes sitting well away from the market price; the absence of a profit and loss view; and customer service replying only by email.

It suits Hong Kong residents who already intend to trade bitcoin, ether and other major virtual assets on a licensed platform and who value low trading costs, as well as anyone with about HK$78,000 of idle funds who can leave the money in place for 30 days and confirms the reward in the app before depositing.

It does not suit those who may need the money at short notice; retail clients wishing to trade stablecoins or smaller tokens; residents of Mainland China or the United States; or anyone unable to tolerate fluctuations in the value of the BTC reward or losses on virtual assets.