Author: Lulu
In just over a year, Hong Kong transformed from a self-mocking "relic of an Asian financial center" to a global financial hub again, relying on Hong Kong Stock Exchange IPOs, RWA virtual-real integration, and stablecoin hot spots - a great rebirth.
In recent years, Hong Kong has gradually become a frontier for RWA (Real World Asset) development throughpolicy innovation and institutional practices. This article systematically combs through the policy evolution of Hong Kong's Security Token Offering (STO) and RWApolicy context, benchmark compliance cases, and core licensed institution layouts, revealing the key logic behind Hong Kong's compliant RWA ecosystem construction.
This article does not include RWA on-chain ecosystems or RWA concept projects not approved by the Hong Kong SFC.
Hong Kong RWA Policy Timeline
1. Initial Exploration (2017-2022)
September 2017: The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued a statement on Initial Token Offerings, clearly stating that security tokens require licensing.
October 2022: The Hong Kong government issued the "Virtual Asset Policy Declaration", establishing the strategic position of RWA.
2. Regulatory System Formation (2023-2024)
November 2023: SFC allowed retail investors to subscribe to security tokens, incorporating them into the Securities and Futures Ordinance.
March 2024: The Hong Kong Monetary Authority launched the Ensemble project, testing green bond and supply chain financial tokenization scenarios.
December 2024: The "Stablecoin Regulation Draft" was submitted to the Legislative Council for review, clearly requiring licensing for fiat stablecoin issuance.
3. Deepening Innovation (2025 to present)
January 2025: The Hong Kong Monetary Authority launched the "Digital Bond Subsidy Scheme" to encourage tokenization technology applications.
March 2025: SFC and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority updated the "Guidelines for Virtual Asset-Related Activities", regulating cross-border data and secondary market management.
Key Legislation: In May 2025, the "Stablecoin Regulation Draft" was passed, requiring full custody of fiat stablecoin reserve assets, prohibiting interest payments, and allowing only licensed institutions to sell to retail investors.
Case Significance: Promoting Hong Kong as the Retail Token Securitization Fund Center in Asia-Pacific
7. Xunying Travel Battery Swap Asset RWA
Issuance Time: March 15, 2025
Issuer: Xunying Group, Ant Digital Technology, Hong Kong Victory Securities
Fundraising Amount: Tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars
Underlying Assets: Operating revenue rights of 4,000 battery swap stations and 40,000 lithium batteries nationwide
Technical Architecture: Ant Chain + Conflux blockchain real-time IoT data on-chain, dynamically adjusting Token value
Compliance Breakthrough: World's first battery swap physical asset RWA, cross-border fundraising through Ensemble sandbox
Case Significance: Annual yield of 8%, covering high-frequency rider battery swap scenarios
8. Taiping Asset Management Tokenized USD Money Market Fund
Issuance Time: March 18, 2025
Issuer: Taiping Asset Management, HashKey Chain
Fundraising Amount: 100 million USD
Underlying Assets: USD money market instruments (short-term government bonds, commercial papers)
Technical Architecture: HashKey Chain blockchain for rights confirmation, Standard Chartered Bank custody
Compliance Breakthrough: First on-chain money market fund by a Chinese institution
Case Significance: Achieving T+0 settlement and real-time yield distribution, activating institutional fund circulation on-chain
9. Solowin Real Yield Token RYT
Issuance Time: April 15, 2025
Issuer: Solowin Digital
Fundraising Amount: Undisclosed
Underlying Assets: Huaxia Fund selected USD monetary instruments
Technical Architecture: Token on Ethereum chain, Standard Chartered Bank custody
Case Significance: Innovative "yield enhancement + instant redemption" model, seven-day annualized yield of 5.3%
Technical Architecture: Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution, with reserve assets isolated and stored in the English Treasury.
HSBC Bank
Strategic Positioning: Launching retail-level gold Token GTP, with a minimum transaction unit of 0.001 ounces and an annual staking yield of 4.2%.
Technical Architecture: Self-developed Orion platform + Polygon cross-chain bridge, real-time anchoring to London gold prices.
6. Other Licensed Participants
Bank of China International
Core Business: Cross-border trade letter of credit on-chain pilot, participating in the Monetary Authority's Ensemble project.
License: SFC 1/6 license.
Hang Seng Bank
Core Business: Initial member of the Ensemble project, supporting tokenized trade finance for electronic bills of lading.
License: Hong Kong Monetary Authority recognized bank license.
Through policy iteration and institutional practices, Hong Kong has already constructed the core framework of the RWA ecosystem. With technological deepening and regulatory improvement, it may become the core hub for global asset tokenization, with major institutions forming closed loops in green energy and real estate assets, targeting a tokenization scale of over16 trillionUSD by the 2030s.
Disclaimer: Readers are strictly advised to comply with local laws and regulations. This article does not represent any investment advice.
