Author: Longdian MrDAO
On February 6, 2026, a night destined to be recorded in the annals of China's financial technology history.
On this day, two seemingly contradictory yet internally unified heavyweight documents were simultaneously released, drawing a clear and profound line for the Chinese RWA (Real World Asset) market, which had once again plunged into a freezing point after a rapid surge.
One document was a notice jointly issued by the People's Bank of China, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and six other departments, titled "Notice on Further Preventing and Handling Risks Related to Virtual Currencies," which explicitly classified domestic RWA tokenization activities as suspected illegal financial activities and prohibited them. The other document was the "Regulatory Guidelines for the Offshore Issuance of Asset-Backed Securities Tokens from Domestic Assets" released by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, which opened a "front door" for compliant offshore issuance through a filing system.
One "ban" and one "regulation," one hand "blocks the backdoor," while the other "opens the front door." Behind this regulatory combination is the inevitable shift of China's RWA from barbaric growth to compliant development, as well as an epic two-year development story filled with hope, fervor, confusion, and rebirth. Let us return to the starting point of the story to explore this magnificent journey of RWA development in China.
Chapter 1: 2024 - Exploration Before Dawn
In the summer of 2024, when the term "RWA" was still circulating among a few pioneering figures in the tech finance circle, a profound transformation was quietly brewing.
RWA, simply put, refers to the tokenization of stable-value assets in the real world, such as real estate, bonds, infrastructure, and carbon credits, into digital tokens through blockchain technology, allowing them to be traded and circulated on-chain. It is akin to turning the future income rights of a house or a charging pile into a "digital certificate" that can be freely bought and sold like stocks.
In August 2024, Langxin Technology, in collaboration with CITIC Bank, successfully issued China's first RWA product based on the future income rights of new energy charging piles in Hong Kong, with a scale of 100 million yuan. This transaction was like a stone thrown into a lake; although the ripples were small, it marked the beginning of China's assets moving towards the global digital capital market.
At the same time, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority launched a regulatory sandbox project called "Ensemble" to explore innovative applications of RWA. On the mainland, the Shanghai Data Exchange, Qianhai in Shenzhen, and the Beijing Big Data Exchange also established sandboxes, quietly conducting various experiments in asset tokenization. Financial and tech giants like China Merchants Bank, Ping An Bank, and Ant Group had also quietly entered the field, beginning to lay out their RWA infrastructure.
The keywords for this year were exploration and low profile. RWA was like a giant ship just leaving the harbor, cautiously exploring its course in the mist before dawn.
Chapter 2: First Half of 2025 - Everything Can Be RWA
As 2025 began, the sparks of RWA quickly ignited into a wildfire.
The total locked value (TVL) of global RWA skyrocketed from $5.5 billion at the beginning of the year to $12.5 billion in just six months, an increase of 124%. Boston Consulting Group boldly predicted that by 2030, the RWA market size would soar to an astonishing $16 trillion.
This wave quickly swept through China. In March 2025, the Shanghai Tree District Blockchain Research Institute collaborated with Ant Group to convert the future income rights of approximately 4,000 battery swap cabinets from Anhui Xunying New Energy Group into RWA, becoming the first RWA project deployed on a public chain in China. Three months later, Xiexin Energy announced that it would put 200 million yuan of photovoltaic assets on-chain, reigniting market enthusiasm.
In no time, the slogan "Everything Can Be RWA" echoed across the skies. More than ten cities nationwide announced their participation in RWA pilot projects, with local governments scrambling to introduce subsidy policies and establish industrial parks, fearing they would miss the train to the future. The Shanghai Data Group, in collaboration with multiple institutions, established a 3 billion yuan blockchain innovation fund, focusing on RWA as a key investment direction. Various forums, summits, and industry alliances related to RWA sprang up like mushrooms after rain.
Dr. Xiao Feng, Chairman of Wanxiang Blockchain, even raised his voice, saying, "In the wave of stablecoin economy and RWA, Chinese entrepreneurs have a unique advantage."
The keywords for the first half of this year were fervor and universal RWA. Everyone was talking about this trillion-dollar blue ocean, as if a brand new era of wealth was within reach.
Chapter 3: Second Half of 2025 - Emergency Brake
However, as everyone rushed towards the windfall, risks began to emerge.
Under the fervor of "Universal RWA," chaos started to surface. Some criminals, under the banner of RWA, packaged fake assets into high-end financial products for illegal fundraising and pyramid schemes. Financial regulatory authorities in Hebei, Heilongjiang, and other regions issued risk warnings, pointing out that RWA was becoming a "new disguise" for illegal fundraising.
The iron fist of regulation soon followed.
On September 22, 2025, a piece of news sent shockwaves through the industry: the China Securities Regulatory Commission, through informal "window guidance," required Chinese securities firms to suspend all RWA-related businesses in Hong Kong. The market instantly "froze," and the once-booming industry seemed to have hit the pause button.
If the "window guidance" was merely a sign of an impending storm, the two documents released more than two months later completely announced the end of the era of barbaric growth for RWA.
On November 28, 2025, the People's Bank of China, the Ministry of Public Security, and thirteen other departments jointly held a meeting to coordinate efforts to combat virtual currency trading and speculation, sending a strong signal of strict regulation.
Just a week later, on December 5, the China Internet Finance Association, the China Banking Association, the China Securities Association, and five other industry associations jointly issued a risk warning titled "On Preventing Risks Related to Illegal Activities Such as Virtual Currencies," clearly stating: "Currently, no real-world asset tokenization activities have been approved by China's financial management departments," and directly classifying RWA token issuance and financing activities conducted domestically as "suspected illegal financial activities."
A ban plunged the entire industry into a freezing point. According to industry insiders, after the ban was issued, the consultation volume for related businesses plummeted by over 90%. Countless entrepreneurs and investors who had just entered the field suddenly found themselves in confusion and panic.
The keywords for the second half of this year were ban, emergency brake, and winter. The giant ship of RWA, after a brief surge, seemed to be stranded on the frozen sea.
Chapter 4: February 6, 2026 - A Day of Ice and Fire
Just when the market generally believed that RWA would fall silent, on February 6, 2026, the regulatory authorities provided an unexpected answer with a set of ingenious combinations.
The notice jointly issued by eight departments reiterated the illegality of domestic RWA tokenization activities while leaving a crucial "exception" - "except for related business activities conducted based on specific financial infrastructure with the approval of the competent business authority in accordance with laws and regulations."
At the same time, the regulatory guidelines released by the China Securities Regulatory Commission for the offshore issuance of asset-backed securities tokens provided a clear operational guide for this "exception" clause. By establishing a pre-filing system, delineating a "negative list" of six types of situations, and emphasizing continuous reporting and cross-border regulatory cooperation, the CSRC opened a window for compliant domestic assets to be tokenized and issued through offshore platforms.
The dialectics of "ban" and "regulation" were vividly reflected on this day. The regulatory authorities used thunderous means to prohibit all illegal and unregulated RWA activities domestically, completely "blocking the backdoor"; at the same time, with a prudent and open attitude, they "opened the front door" for those compliant businesses that could genuinely serve the real economy and were willing to accept strict regulation.
This marked the official transition of China's RWA development from the "barbaric growth" era to the "licensed operation" era.
Chapter 5: The Future Landscape of Chinese RWA
Having experienced the baptism of ice and fire, where will the future of Chinese RWA head?
From the perspective of regulatory logic, the future compliance path has gradually become clear. It is no longer a pursuit of a completely decentralized utopia but rather an exploration of a "regulatable digitalization" path. The following three paths may become the mainstream of future RWA development in China:
Digitalization of Financial Assets: Digitally transforming traditional financial products such as ABS (Asset-Backed Securities) and REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) through RWA to enhance their liquidity and trading efficiency.
Carbon Assets and Green RWA: Tokenizing environmental rights assets such as carbon credits and green power certificates on-chain, utilizing the traceable and tamper-proof characteristics of blockchain technology to serve the national "dual carbon" strategy.
Data Element RWA: Exploring the rights confirmation, evaluation, and circulation of data as a new type of asset while ensuring data security and privacy protection, thereby releasing the economic value of data elements.
In this process, Hong Kong, as a "super connector" between China and the world, will play an increasingly important role. High-quality, compliant domestic assets can connect to the global digital capital market through this window in Hong Kong.
Looking back at the development history of China's capital market, from the early chaos of the "old eight stocks" in the stock market to the current standardized operation of the comprehensive registration system, almost every field's development follows the law of moving from disorder to order. The story of RWA is merely another reenactment of this grand historical narrative.
Conclusion: The Great Rivers Ultimately Flow into the Sea
From the exploration in 2024 to the frenzy and freezing in 2025, and then to the institutional beginning in early 2026, Chinese RWA has completed a thrilling journey in just two years.
The regulatory boot has finally dropped; this is not the end but a brand new beginning. It marks the end of the era of wild heroes and heralds the arrival of regular troops. For speculators, the feast has ended; but for true builders, the best times are just beginning.
Because history has repeatedly proven that real opportunities are always born at the moment when the regulatory framework is finally established. The great rivers, after many twists and turns, will ultimately converge into the vast ocean.
Postscript
As a witness to the rise of Chinese RWA, seeing today's information fills me with mixed feelings: On June 25, 2024, we officially launched the "RWA Research Institute" at the University of Hong Kong, and at that time, no one paid attention. In early 2025, RWA suddenly exploded in popularity, and our video account featured the first video with over 100,000 views. I realized that the trend of RWA was unstoppable. On June 25, 2025, we held the "One-Year Anniversary Celebration of the RWA Research Institute" at the Citigroup Auditorium of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. By then, RWA had become extremely popular, and any listed company related to RWA (whether A-shares or Hong Kong stocks) could easily hit the limit up. At that moment, I realized that it might have gotten a bit too hot; since then, various RWA conferences and projects have emerged in the market, with exaggerated language and rapid spread, leaving people astonished. After much deliberation, we decided to participate in and support the Global RWA Expo on September 9, which saw over 700 registrations in just five days. At that moment, I realized that extremes must reverse, and some activities began to promote related content under the name of the RWA Research Institute and its honorary chairman. Subsequently, the "RWA Research Institute" was forced to write multiple official statements to clarify the situation. Soon after, the ban came, and overnight, various RWA entrepreneurs who had been sharpening their knives suddenly fell silent. However, our research and enthusiasm for RWA have not stopped; our videos and news updates continue, and we are actively writing the upcoming "2026 Global RWA Regulatory and Development Panorama Report." The report contains over 300,000 words, covering the legal compliance and related development policies of RWA in more than ten countries. In this process, we have also seen many compliant RWA projects quietly cultivating and waiting for the right moment.
I believe 2026 will be even better. As an important moment in the development of Web3, RWA carries the important mission of linking the real world with the digital world. Only by adhering to compliance can we reach the pinnacle of digital civilization.
Reference Material Source
[1] China Securities Regulatory Commission. "Regulatory Guidelines for the Offshore Issuance of Asset-Backed Securities Tokens from Domestic Assets" (CSRC Announcement [2026] No. 1), February 6, 2026.
[3]China News Service. Seven associations jointly issue a risk warning on preventing illegal activities related to virtual currencies, December 5, 2025.
[4]People's Daily Overseas Edition. Preventing illegal activities related to virtual currencies, December 6, 2025.
[5]Xinhua News Agency "Global" Magazine. RWA: Who is on the Chain in Reality, August 19, 2025.
[6]China Business Journal. Multiple regions issue documents warning against illegal activities related to virtual currencies, RWA becomes a new "disguise" for illegal fundraising, February 1, 2026.
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