The ongoing Web3 series of events in Hong Kong have brought industry leaders together to explore the potential of real world asset (RWA) tokenization, a development they view as a significant step in blockchain’s journey towards mainstream adoption.
“This is the perfect time for our whole industry,” said Shukyee Ma, Chief Strategy Officer of Plume, in an exclusive interview. “After last year’s disappointment with DeFi yields, users are looking for something new, and we have the tokenized assets ready.”
One of the key trends emerging from these discussions is the creation of purpose-built blockchains specifically designed for RWA’s, instead of utilizing existing general-purpose chains. Ma explained, “All those public chains are not built for RWA protocols. That’s why we build this RWA chain and put DeFi composability on top of it to make it easier for crypto users to adopt.”
Jayant Ramanand, Co-founder of MANTRA, further predicted the coming decade would see a plethora of existing fungible assets, such as US treasuries, sovereign bonds, and equities, becoming tokenized. This development, he explained, would create fungible and movable value that could be transferred globally in an instant.
However, industry leaders also underscored the importance of regulatory certainty for this technology to achieve widespread adoption. Elizabeth Wong, Director of Fintech at Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission, mentioned that they had issued guidance to help traditional finance adopt this technology while remaining “agnostic to the technology used, as each blockchain has their benefits and limitations.”
The regulatory landscape appears to be aligning globally, according to Vivian Mei, a lawyer specializing in RWA compliance. She noted high convergence in virtual asset definitions, KYC requirements, and compliance standards.
George Chou, Chief Fintech Officer at Hong Kong Monetary Authority, spotlighted their Project Ensemble initiative, which aims to explore an innovative market infrastructure with the industry that facilitates settlement using tokenized money.
During these discussions, it became clear that the goal is not merely to bring offline assets on-chain, but to catalyze a structural change in how the real and virtual worlds connect. One example is the PAC platform, which recently tokenized a quantitative fund with approximately $100 million in assets.
Rachel Keum, CEO of VaultX, is taking another approach by tokenizing art assets using NFC technology, aiming to revolutionize RWA ownership and create a decentralized marketplace for artists to receive ongoing royalties from secondary sales.
Furthermore, consumer-focused applications are emerging as well. EudemoniaCC from Morph, whose Black Card has gained significant popularity, stated, “The real distribution is never for institutional investors—it’s for the people. We’re trying to put payment and consumption at the center, letting people spend their crypto assets in the real world while bringing new audiences into the ecosystem.”
