Hong Kong Pilot Program Sparks Hot Debate: How Can RWA Turn from Concept into Real Assets?

Hong Kong Digital Harbor launches the “Blockchain and Digital Asset Pilot Funding Program,” with initial results already showing. The market response exceeded expectations and quickly became a hot topic in the global RWA (Real World Asset) tokenization field. According to a report by Zhitong Finance on December 10, the first phase of the program received over 200 applications, with 9 companies shortlisted. Nearly half of the projects are already in the implementation stage, involving assets exceeding HKD 120 million. This development not only demonstrates market innovation vitality but also marks Hong Kong’s pragmatic approach—using funding to guide scenario pilots, and ecosystem aggregation to accelerate closed-loop development—to address the global dilemma of “grand blueprints but difficult to execute” in the RWA sector. Amid fierce competition among major global financial centers to explore new digital asset tracks, this initiative positions Hong Kong as a key testing ground for deep integration between blockchain and traditional finance.

1. Global Consensus on RWA and Challenges in Implementation: The Gap Between Ideals and Reality

RWA tokenization is widely regarded as the most important narrative for the next wave of blockchain-enabled real economy development. Its core logic is transforming traditional assets such as real estate, bonds, commodities, and intellectual property into on-chain digital certificates, aiming to achieve fragmentation, increased liquidity, and improved transaction settlement efficiency. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has publicly stated multiple times that tokenization is the future of capital markets. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) also affirmed this trend’s potential in its 2023 report.

However, globally, there remains a significant gap between the conceptual consensus on RWA and large-scale application. The primary challenge stems from fragmentation of technology and standards. Assets on different protocols and chains are difficult to interoperate, creating new “digital islands.” Second, legal and regulatory certainty is a prerequisite for institutional capital entry. Issues such as legal nature of tokenized assets, creditor priority in bankruptcy, and cross-border jurisdiction are still under exploration in most jurisdictions. Finally, building a complete commercial closed-loop is highly complex. A successful RWA project requires seamless coordination among asset issuers, technical platforms, custodians, law firms, auditors, and exchanges; any weak link could cause the entire process to collapse.

Therefore, small-scale, supervised “pilot” projects become the key initial step to break the deadlock. These are not aimed at immediate trading volume but at verifying technical solutions, clarifying compliance boundaries, streamlining collaboration processes, and accumulating critical market trust under real-world conditions. Hong Kong Digital Harbor’s funding program precisely targets this critical node.

2. Hong Kong’s Strategic Framework: Balancing Stable Regulation and Bold Innovation

In response to common challenges, Hong Kong’s strategy is not simply policy loosening but a carefully designed combination of “policy guidance, scenario pilots, and ecosystem empowerment,” seeking to balance financial stability and innovation incentives.

On the policy front, Hong Kong is committed to building a clear, gradual regulatory framework. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) are the two main drivers. In 2023, HKMA issued a discussion paper on the regulation of tokenized assets and a legislative proposal on stablecoin regulation, emphasizing the principle of “same risk, same regulation” to define compliant innovation pathways. The SFC has long established a licensing system for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) and provided clear guidelines for fund products investing in virtual assets. These measures offer a preliminary compliance manual for core RWA activities like security token offerings (STOs). The Digital Harbor pilot can be seen as a “stress test” under this top-level design, with feedback directly informing future regulation refinement.

On the scenario level, the funding program demonstrates high focus and pragmatism. Applications mainly target RWA tokenization, stablecoin payments, and Web3 security—these are the three foundational pillars of RWA commercial applications: on-chain assets, value transfer, and security. The maximum HKD 500,000 funding acts more as a symbolic catalyst than full subsidy, significantly reducing early-stage entrepreneurs’ trial-and-error costs, encouraging solutions to undergo real market pressure rather than remain at the technical demonstration stage.

On the ecosystem level, Hong Kong accelerates integration to achieve RWA closed-loop completeness. Digital Harbor has gathered over 300 blockchain-related enterprises and connected with more than 220 investment institutions. This means a pilot project can quickly connect with technical partners, legal advisors, auditors, and potential investors within the same physical and community space. This dense ecosystem aims to solve the classic “chicken-and-egg” problem in innovation: no successful cases, no ecosystem investment; no ecosystem support, no successful cases. Hong Kong, through government and market efforts, has built a platform to initiate this positive cycle.

3. Global Test Bed Tour: Hong Kong’s Unique Position and Competitive Dimensions

In the global RWA race, Hong Kong is not an isolated case. Singapore, the UAE, Switzerland, and others are actively positioning themselves, each with distinct paths and advantages.

Singapore is often compared to Hong Kong. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) led the “Project Guardian,” which also focuses on asset tokenization pilots but emphasizes guiding traditional large financial institutions (like DBS Bank and J.P. Morgan) to explore wholesale financing and cross-border trade, with a more cautious and institutional approach. In contrast, Hong Kong Digital Harbor’s plan targets innovative tech companies, with more diverse scenarios aiming to cultivate a native digital asset ecosystem, characterized by vitality and inclusiveness.

The UAE (especially Abu Dhabi and Dubai) offers highly flexible and friendly regulatory frameworks through free zones to attract global Web3 companies, leveraging fast regulatory responses and tax incentives. Switzerland, with its long-standing private banking tradition and clear crypto asset laws, leads in integrated crypto custody and banking services.

Hong Kong’s unique advantage lies in its irreplaceable “bridge” role: backed by China’s vast real economy and asset reserves, connecting global open capital markets. This means Hong Kong’s RWA experiments can not only test universal scenarios but also explore unique opportunities related to Chinese factors, such as compliance-based structuring involving mainland assets or cross-border capital flows. This strategic depth surpasses that of Singapore or the UAE.

4. Gazing into the Future: Deepening Pilots, Strengthening Bridges, and Ecosystem Evolution

Based on the initial successes and global competitive landscape, the future path of Hong Kong RWA development is becoming clearer.

Pilots will evolve toward higher complexity and broader scope. The second phase may encourage more cross-border and cross-sector comprehensive pilots—for example, exploring full digitalization and automation of trade finance instruments like letters of credit, bills of lading, and payment flows; or testing asset-backed tokenization linked with IoT data (e.g., warehouse logistics monitoring). The pilots will also focus more on integration with traditional financial infrastructure, such as exploring how tokenized assets can interface with Hong Kong’s fast payment system “FPS” and the upcoming digital Hong Kong dollar (e-HKD).

Hong Kong’s “super connector” function will be strengthened unprecedentedly. RWA is expected to become a new channel connecting mainland China and international markets. A potential scenario involves tokenized financing of infrastructure assets with stable cash flows (like smart parks, logistics hubs, clean energy projects) in mainland China, using compliant legal structures (e.g., SPV) in Hong Kong to offer tokenized investment opportunities to qualified global investors. This requires Hong Kong’s ecosystem to be proficient not only in technology but also in legal, accounting, and regulatory logic across both regions.

Global competition will advance into a stage of comprehensive ecosystem strength comparison. Future competition will go beyond mere regulatory flexibility, focusing instead on ecosystem integrity, depth of professional services, and market potential. Hong Kong needs to consolidate its traditional advantages in legal, accounting, and tax consulting services and cultivate more versatile talent familiar with both blockchain and traditional finance. The key to success will be whether Hong Kong can produce a series of influential RWA success stories and develop reproducible models and standards.

5. The Endgame of RWA: Trust Victory and Ecosystem Maturity

The Digital Harbor pilot funding program is like a meticulously designed “stress test,” testing far beyond blockchain technology itself—it’s about society’s readiness to accept a new paradigm. It reveals a fundamental principle: the success of RWA is ultimately a result of institutional innovation, technological integration, and ecological collaboration.

Hong Kong’s current approach—laying a foundation with clear and adaptable policy frameworks, guiding real-world validation through targeted funding, and fostering resource convergence via platform ecosystems—embodies a highly pragmatic systems engineering mindset. It does not shy away from obstacles but systematically constructs a “scaled-down” version of the real world to identify, dissect, and overcome barriers.

For global observers, Hong Kong’s experimental value is immense. It will continue to answer key questions: which asset classes can first achieve full process flow? What legal structures best balance efficiency and security? How to eliminate final concerns of institutional investors? The answers refined through practice will not only shape Hong Kong’s future as an international digital asset hub but also provide vital Asian experience and wisdom for the healthy development of global RWA. Ultimately, as trust is built through countless successful interactions, and ecosystems become robust and mature through solving real problems, the grand narrative of RWA will transcend financial cycles, transforming from an exciting concept into a solid force reshaping the global asset landscape.

Source materials: · “Digital Harbor: 9 Companies Shortlisted in Blockchain and Digital Asset Pilot Funding Program” · “Digital Harbor welcomes the release of the Digital Asset Policy Declaration 2.0 by the SAR Government and launches the ‘Blockchain and Digital Asset Pilot Funding Program’ to support industry development”

Author: Leung Yu | Editorial: Zhao Yidan