The RWA path that generates the most value and is best suited to us must be: Mainland assets + compliant data export + overseas fundraising. This ensures asset controllability, data credibility, and capital accessibility.

At the beginning of 2025, the Hong Kong region has already released two “explosive” pieces of news. First, Hua Xia Bank launched the Asia-Pacific region’s first retail tokenized fund in Hong Kong (click Crypto Salad’s “Asia-Pacific’s First Retail Tokenized Fund Launched in Hong Kong! Web3 Lawyers Explain On-Chain Innovation in Fund Tokenization and the Future of RWA” for more details); second, the Hong Kong Financial Secretary announced that a second “Hong Kong Virtual Asset Development Policy Declaration” will soon be released, further innovating how traditional assets can be better integrated with virtual assets.

To many, these two positive developments signal the realization of RWA project compliance. Meanwhile, the first RWA project in Mainland China’s agricultural sector—“Malü Grapes”—was successfully launched and raised 10 million RMB on the Shanghai Digital Assets Exchange, as further proof that RWA tokenization has suddenly evolved from “concept” to “implementation.” As a result, whether on the asset side, intermediary services side, or among primary investors, related work is being carried out in full swing, with numerous forums and project inquiries happening nearly every day.

Crypto Salad has recently received a large number of project implementation requests, with the underlying asset scope being very broad, covering bonds, gold, rare metals, non-performing assets, agricultural products, property rental income, bulk commodities, digital copyrights, fan economy…

As the evaluation of various projects deepens, every project team eventually circles back to the same origin, repeatedly asking themselves:

Is my project actually suitable for RWA?
If my project isn’t suitable for RWA, then what kind of project is?
What are the real requirements for underlying assets in RWA—can all types of real-world assets qualify?
What kind of token am I issuing? Is it just a “shitcoin”?
If it’s not a shitcoin, will people in the crypto space be motivated to speculate on assets with physical backing (relatively stable in value) and ownership rights?
……

Today, Crypto Salad attempts to analyze these questions based on our practical experience.

Let’s start with one conclusion: the RWA path that generates the most value and is best suited to us must be: Mainland assets + compliant data export + overseas fundraising. This ensures asset controllability, data credibility, and capital accessibility.

1. How to Understand RWA?

First, we need to clarify the definition of RWA. RWA stands for Real-World Assets Tokenization, which means packaging and storing various types of real-world asset data—such as intrinsic value, operations, and revenue—on the blockchain to form digital tokens (i.e., digital coins), which can then be used to issue financing and be traded on-chain by investors.

Many enterprises are drawn to RWA for its “sweet spot” in financing, so let’s first discuss: what exactly are RWA’s features when it comes to financing?

Since RWA involves a “tokenization” process, which is similar to asset “securitization,” and also resembles a token ICO (Initial Coin Offering), which is similar to an IPO (Initial Public Offering), we might as well compare them side by side.

1. Centered on Underlying Assets

The biggest difference between the two lies in this: RWA is centered on underlying assets, rather than being backed by nothing—what we might call “air.” Tokens of this nature can be referred to as Asset-Backed Tokens (ABT).
Since the focus is on underlying assets, this means that financing is not based on the creditworthiness of the issuer, but instead relies on the evaluation of the asset’s intrinsic value. Therefore, whether a company is profitable in the long term is not the most critical factor for RWA. As long as a company owns a batch of assets that are valuable and have potential, these assets can be packaged and put on-chain for financing. This undoubtedly opens up greater possibilities and imagination for enterprises.
What kinds of assets are suitable for RWA?
From the perspective of on-chain asset performance, RWA projects are tailored for assets that are high in value, high in quality, require improved liquidity, and benefit from lower investment thresholds. Some types of projects that are relatively easier to accept and understand include:
Stablecoins: Backed by fiat currency or cash equivalents, such as the earliest digital dollars like USDT and USDC. These can be considered the most successful RWA projects in the market.
Bonds and Stocks: Tokenizing traditional financial assets like bonds and stocks to enhance liquidity and market accessibility, such as USYC, which is backed by U.S. Treasury bonds.
Real Estate: Lowering the threshold for real estate investment through tokenization, such as RealT.
Commodities: Physical assets like carbon credits and precious metals, for example, PAXG, which is pegged to gold.

2. Financing Speed

Leveraging blockchain technologies such as smart contracts, RWA digitizes the entire financing process on-chain, achieving structured and standardized data. As a result, data becomes a standard product. From asset evaluation to token issuance and fundraising, blockchain’s inherent transparency and on-chain traceability significantly accelerate the financing process.

3. Asset Liquidity

RWA uses blockchain technology to tokenize, fractionalize, and internationalize real-world assets. For example, a 50 million yuan property is unaffordable for most people, but if it’s divided into one million fragments, then everyone can afford to buy a piece. It’s like putting “wheels” on a company’s assets that anyone can push, allowing them to flow quickly through the market. Better liquidity gives every investor the opportunity to exit more easily, which boosts investment willingness.
Even though one token may represent one ten-thousandth or even one hundred-millionth of a property, and this ratio may fluctuate due to secondary market sentiment, there is still a relatively stable benchmark—the value of the underlying asset, that is, the property itself.

2. Challenges Enterprises Face with RWA

If RWA is so attractive, why are successful RWA cases among mainland Chinese enterprises still so rare? Based on real-world practice, Crypto Salad summarizes the two major challenges enterprises often encounter:

1. Compliance Challenges

RWA tokenization naturally involves “tokens,” but the Chinese mainland strictly prohibits virtual currency financing and exchange platforms from engaging in the exchange, trading, or pricing of virtual currencies. This is why compliance holds extremely high priority in RWA projects.

According to Article 3 of the Notice on Further Preventing and Handling the Risk of Speculation in Virtual Currency Trading:

Virtual currency-related business activities are illegal financial activities. Engaging in the exchange of legal tender and virtual currency, exchange between virtual currencies, acting as a central counterparty in the trading of virtual currencies, providing information intermediary and pricing services for virtual currency trading, token issuance financing, and virtual currency derivatives trading all constitute illegal financial activities such as illegal issuance of tokens, unauthorized public securities issuance, illegal futures trading, and illegal fundraising. These are strictly prohibited and will be shut down in accordance with the law. If criminal activity is involved, criminal responsibility will be pursued according to law.

Therefore, mainland enterprises must devise a fully compliant pathway for implementing RWA.
Tokens cannot be issued within China, but the underlying assets may be located either domestically or overseas. The entire project can operate through a combination of domestic and international collaboration, or be entirely offshore, to meet the compliance requirements for token issuance.
For cross-border projects, the first unavoidable step is asset securitization.
Since RWA projects must interact with regulations across multiple jurisdictions, if an enterprise fails to link its product to standard financial instruments (e.g., equity, bonds, shares), it could lose legal enforceability over those rights. In an environment where global digital asset regulation is still under development, the legality of RWA depends on how well it adapts to traditional legal frameworks. Without linking to standard instruments, the project cannot leverage existing legal infrastructure to reduce regulatory friction and ensure enforceable rights. Therefore, only after assets have been securitized can they be tokenized via smart contracts.

2. How to Attract Investors?

Once the token is issued, the real challenge becomes: how does it gain value and attract buyers? This is one of the most common questions enterprises ask Crypto Salad.
To understand this, let’s first explore some basics of digital currencies.
Can you distinguish between mainstream coins (e.g., BTC), altcoins, meme coins, dog coins, air coins, and PI coins?
While they differ slightly in nature, the key difference lies in their underlying mechanisms:
Mainstream coins like BTC operate on PoW (Proof of Work), competing in computational power. ETH switched to PoS (Proof of Stake), where participants stake tokens to validate transactions, reducing issuance costs.
In the Web3 era, the technical and financial barriers to issuing tokens have dropped significantly. Standardized protocols like Ethereum’s ERC-20 now allow token creation via code templates.
In 2024, we saw an explosion of “air coins,” many deployed on Solana and Base chains. Clearly, issuing tokens in Web3 is not difficult.

So if issuing a token isn’t hard, is listing it?
Crypto Salad says—also not too hard, at least when it comes to achieving basic on-chain liquidity.
Getting listed on an exchange, especially a mainstream one, can be more challenging. However, from experience:

• If a token gains enough traction and visibility, mainstream exchanges are likely to list it proactively.

• If not, but it still meets listing requirements, it can still get listed.

Since Hong Kong began issuing licenses for compliant virtual asset exchanges, enterprises have turned their focus to these licensed platforms. The burning question is: how can we seize the opportunity to list tokens on compliant exchanges?

Let’s clarify what we mean by a compliant exchange.
Crypto Salad defines compliant exchanges as those that hold virtual asset trading licenses under the laws of their country or region of registration. There’s also a category of “potentially compliant exchanges” in jurisdictions that remain neutral toward virtual asset regulation—where “what is not prohibited by law is allowed.” While these exchanges are not explicitly illegal, they’re in a gray area.
Under increasing global regulatory clarity led by the U.S. and other governments, the definition of “compliance” is expected to become clearer worldwide.

So, we’ve now addressed the technical challenge of token issuance and the exchange listing pathway. The token is finally on the secondary market, ready to circulate. This brings us back to the core issue: who will invest in such tokens?

Investors interested in RWA tokens must meet two conditions:

• Have the motivation to purchase

• Qualify as (offshore) accredited investors

In the Web3 world, a token’s value depends on factors like how it’s generated, its tokenomics, and its circulation.
Most Web3 investors are chasing the next “100x” or “1000x” coin. The recent Trump token is a prime example—it surged up to 800% within a few months. Fundamentally, it’s an “air coin” with no real intrinsic value, priced purely on hype.

By contrast, RWA tokens are asset-backed. The value of these assets is relatively stable and unlikely to skyrocket by hundreds or thousands of times. Anyone buying an RWA token is most likely drawn to its intrinsic value—value that stems from the underlying asset.
This reveals a core mismatch with popular Web3 token dynamics. RWA tokens offer limited speculative upside. Investors must be genuinely interested in the asset itself to participate.

Furthermore, under compliant secondary market trading, exchanges typically implement investor access controls to protect participants. For example, Huaxia Bank’s tokenized fund is only available to investors in Hong Kong.

So not only must investors be interested—they must also meet the (offshore) accredited investor requirements. This significantly narrows the pool of potential buyers.

3. How Should RWA Projects Be Implemented? What Preparations Should Enterprises Make? What Can Crypto Salad Do for You?

1. Initial Screening of Viable RWA Projects

In practice, we’ve found that many enterprises are simply interested in RWA and believe they possess assets suitable for tokenization. However, they often lack a clear plan for their underlying assets, or even a proper understanding of their own asset portfolio.

Crypto Salad uses an imperfect analogy: it’s like parents planning to send their child to study abroad. Before contacting an agency, they should first understand the child’s background, choose a destination and budget, and then match those with the agency’s resources to explore the chances of success.

Likewise, enterprises must thoroughly understand their asset situation and identify a clear set of underlying assets. These assets must be tied to the business’s core operations. This places high demands on internal personnel—teams must include interdisciplinary talent who understand business operations, the value of the enterprise’s assets, and how Web3 works. Before launching a project, the enterprise must realize that RWA is a hybrid of industrial, financial, and digital sectors, requiring well-rounded talent.

2. Prioritizing Technology and Compliance—Managing Dual Risks Early

Once the initial screening is complete, the Crypto Salad team will work closely with the enterprise to thoroughly study the RWA implementation plan. This includes designing the tokenomics model, building the token issuance tech stack, planning data collection, estimating costs and timelines, and mapping out the compliance pathway.

Due to differences in enterprise types, asset categories, and regulatory frameworks across regions and countries, compliance requirements for asset management and circulation vary significantly. We assist enterprises in prioritizing both technology and compliance to pre-empt and manage dual risk factors from the start.

3. Project Execution and Primary Market Fundraising

After the plan is finalized, the project moves into the execution phase. At this stage, the Crypto Salad team’s core mission is to help the enterprise put the project into action. This includes in-depth due diligence, writing whitepapers, developing and deploying smart contracts, drafting legal documents, and connecting with stakeholders across the RWA project lifecycle. The end result: successful tokenization of the asset.

4. Exchange Listing Strategy, Secondary Market Circulation, and Ongoing Operations

At this stage, we help enterprises fine-tune their strategy based on evolving policy landscapes, enterprise needs, and investor sentiment. The goal is to list the token and enable secondary market circulation.

Our overseas partners have strong relationships with licensed and mainstream exchanges. Additionally, as a Web3 legal team with deep experience serving Chinese enterprises in fundraising, we provide customized legal documentation, real-time regulatory policy updates, and flexible compliance strategies to support the enterprise throughout the process.

5. Community Engagement and Marketing—Long-Term Advisory Services

In this stage, enterprises typically require support for community operations, including building branded communities, setting up community management tools, and producing localized content in multiple languages.

Media and KOL connections are essential, along with tailored communication strategies.

We also help optimize operational processes, such as regularly reporting asset tokenization rates, implementing token burn/release mechanisms, and executing market cap management strategies.

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