On "Tokenization": Reflections from a Bund Conference

The gold that has slept for thousands of years is humanity's unchanging faith—when war, turmoil, or inflation occur, gold is the final refuge of value.

In one iteration of civilization after another, it has always maintained its unique value position.

But this time, things seem to have changed.

The World Gold Council has officially proposed a plan to launch a digital token backed by physical gold in London, aimed at fundamentally changing the way gold is traded, settled, and collateralized. This move will inject new vitality into the world's largest physical gold trading center, worth up to $930 billion, and can be seen as the largest experiment in the tokenization of real-world assets to date.

This has certainly sparked discussions in the market about the intense collision between tradition and innovation—how should we open the door as physical assets move towards tokenization?

I was fortunate to attend the discussion on token economy at the Shanghai Bund Conference, where I witnessed different perspectives and value orientations from multiple dimensions, including third parties, industry participants, regulators, economists, and financial institutions.

In summary, the consensus is that token economies are worth exploring. However, to reach a breakthrough moment in tokenization, collaboration between regulators, financial institutions, and tech companies is essential, with a balanced approach to jointly explore and support the real economy.

Before Dawn: Exploration and Boundaries of Token Economy

The year 2025 may be a small but important turning point for the entire token economy.

This year, the U.S. government proposed "Project Crypto", publicly supporting tokenization innovation, and encouraged regulatory agencies such as the SEC and CFTC to express their positions, gradually establishing the U.S.'s leadership stance in the token economy.

At the same time, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government released the "Digital Asset Development Policy Statement 2.0", which clearly proposes to encourage the development of RWA and attempts to provide a clearer regulatory framework for tokenized assets, with the goal of making Hong Kong a digital asset hub.

Why does the "Policy Statement 2.0" incentivize "RWAs"? This is because the Hong Kong government believes that the tokenization technology represented by RWAs can enhance the efficiency, accessibility, and potential liquidity of the Hong Kong market, ultimately bringing new vitality to the economy. Currently, several licensed institutions in Hong Kong are exploring the issuance of tokenized products such as gold, funds, bonds, and renewable energy, and have achieved practical case implementations. For example, Long New Group's charging pile project has become the first relevant asset in the renewable energy industry to be implemented, gaining new liquidity through RWA, which can accelerate the development of the real economy.

Of course, the enthusiasm for exploring token economics still needs to clarify the compliance boundaries of the industry, just like the calm and objective constructive speeches at the conference venue in Shanghai during the 35-degree heat in September.

In this "confession session" of the token economy, Li Yang, Chairman of the National Financial and Development Laboratory, was the first to speak out, stating that the token economy is still in its early stages of development.

"The tokenization of fiat currencies and financial assets is progressing rapidly, but the tokenization of physical assets has only just begun."

The CEO of Ant Group and Chairman of Ant Digital Technology, Han Xinyi, said: "Currently, the global scale of Web3 native assets has exceeded 3.8 trillion USD, but the vast majority of it remains focused on speculative trading and value storage, with insufficient interaction depth with the real industry." He stated that if tokens are merely confined to the internal circulation of the virtual world, their value space will be very limited.

The "Token Economy Report" released at the Bund Conference points out that the current main players in tokenization are still financial assets. However, its true mission and value should be to provide "timely assistance" to the real economy, rather than merely adding "finishing touches" to financial assets.

The former president of the Bank of China, Li Lihui, raised deeper questions: Which financial services are truly suitable for "decentralization"? Which assets really need to be tokenized? On the other side of innovation, how can we prevent systemic risks through technological and institutional innovations?

"Many innovations only exist in form; in essence, they are merely a re-expression of existing functions under new circumstances." The experts are not passionate, but they have highlighted the most pressing question on the road to the token economy: we must not only pursue 'can we,' but also consider 'should we'; not only efficiency, but also safety.

This is a boundary that must be clearly defined on the road of exploring token economics. Only by understanding the underlying value of technology can the entire industry develop healthily and thrive, piercing through the chaos to welcome the dawn.

The author noted that Ant Group's CTO Yan Ying announced the launch of a brand new "Agentic Contract" at the Bund Conference. The Agentic Contract introduces AI agents that drive smart contracts, allowing the contract itself to perform environmental perception, logical reasoning, and dynamic decision-making based on AI—transitioning from "Smart Contract" to "Agentic Contract."

This technological evolution provides new infrastructure possibilities for the efficient, flexible, and compliant handling of tokenized assets.

The Meaning of Dawn: The Value and Red Line of Token Economics

Essentially, the underlying logic of the development of RWA is humanity's continuous pursuit of improved transaction efficiency, thereby promoting the value of economic growth.

Imagine that the earliest transactions among humans were barter, but as transactions increased, it became too cumbersome and difficult to meet people's needs. This evolved into physical exchanges, where grains and livestock were the initial mediums of trade, later evolving into "money" such as shells, which were easier to carry and count.

Later on, metals like gold, silver, and copper became the valuation currency for humanity over thousands of years due to their characteristics of value, divisibility, ease of storage, and scarcity. This was followed by the era of fiat currency and the internet payment of the millennium.

Every improvement in transaction payment efficiency has a positive impact on enhancing the efficiency of economic activities in the entire human society.

The development and exploration of blockchain technology have made asset tokenization and token payments possible, bringing new application prospects for improving transaction efficiency.

According to data from rwa.xyz, the global RWA market size was only $500 million in 2022. However, by July 2025, the total global RWA market has grown to $25.5 billion, achieving a rapid growth of 5 times over 3 years. In terms of underlying asset structure, private credit, U.S. Treasury bonds, and commodities account for nearly 95%.

In the words of Chairman Li Yang at the Bund Conference, "The early stages of development are all focused on safe assets." The entire industry, being in a still immature phase, requires continuous accumulation of credit assets to solidify the value of the upstream and downstream of the industry chain.

Source: Guotai Junan Securities

The CEO of Ant Group said at the Bund Conference: "We will resolutely not issue virtual currencies and will not participate in any form of speculation."

Compliance is the lifeline of innovation, and regulation has always maintained a red line regarding the speculation of virtual currencies. Hong Kong has consistently adhered to "preemptive regulation," establishing a token licensing system and an innovation sandbox. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has comprehensively tightened Web3 regulations and completely eliminated non-compliant institutions, while the European MiCA framework (effective May 2025) imposes higher requirements on crypto assets.

A prudent view of "cryptographic assets" can almost be said to be a consistent attitude among regulators in most parts of the world.

Regulators should encourage the value realization of asset tokenization with a proactive attitude and treat the token challenges faced behind tokenization with a rational and prudent perspective. It is necessary to extract and mine industrial value while also setting reasonable industry boundaries. We should provide "timely help" rather than "adding unnecessary embellishments."

After Dawn: A Long-Term Outlook on Token Economics

At the Bund Conference, I saw a forward-looking map spanning academia, industry, and financial institutions. The door is open, and how to reasonably set up compliance and regulatory guidance in the future, which can both encourage the market to actively develop under new technological trends and match and serve the grand strategies, is the key that everyone is holding their breath for.

Li Lihui said at the meeting, "The transformation and development of the global digital asset market have created new application scenarios for the internationalization of the renminbi. We should observe and think about the direction and strategy of the development of the digital asset market from the perspective of national economic security strategy, accelerate the pace of renminbi internationalization, and promote the construction of a diversified and multipolar global monetary financial system."

The international landscape, global trade, and global payment systems are facing a systematic transformation. On a global scale, SWIFT is attempting to collaborate with Ripple to pilot real-time digital asset transactions, while Visa is working with HSBC to explore the application of tokenized deposits. International institutions are taking the lead in exploring tokenization tools and application scenarios, which is crucial for this transformation. According to a report by Ernst & Young, the cross-border payment market is expected to reach $194.6 trillion by 2025, with blockchain and AI-driven solutions taking a significant share.

Against the backdrop of global trade hegemony, how to find new engines and drivers for human economic growth, token economy is expected to be one of the solutions.

This is also consistent with the connotation of the Bund Conference "Reconstructing Innovative Growth"; the ultimate purpose of technological transformation should always be to serve humanity by finding more efficient solutions.

From this standpoint, looking ahead to the long-term vision of the token economy, its future is not solely dependent on how fast the industry can run, but rather on whether the industry can continue to run steadily. Value exploration and risk control must be placed on an equally important level - they are not opposing forces, but rather a complementary dual task.

Learning from history, the 1997 Southeast Asian financial crisis serves as a profound lesson. When countries like Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia sought financial liberalization, they lacked the appropriate regulatory frameworks and dynamic risk response mechanisms. As a result, international capital engaged in a series of speculation and attacks on these countries, from financial assets to the real economy, ultimately triggering a regional economic recession and social unrest.

We need to establish a clear and safe regulatory framework while encouraging technological innovation; while pursuing efficiency, we must not relax the requirements for financial stability and investor protection. Regulation and the industry should jointly seek a practical path that is both inclusive of innovation and maintains the bottom line. As the "Tao Te Ching" states: "Who can remain at peace when stirred and still thrive slowly?" Alternating between movement and stillness, following nature, and being slow is fast, can ensure the continuous vitality and development of the industry.

When people look back decades from now, the year 2025 may indeed be remembered as the inaugural year of "gold on the blockchain," as the door to token economies is slowly opening. However, its true success should not be measured by the moment the door is pushed open, but by whether there is a wide and safe road behind it.

This is an era worth embracing passionately, but also an era that must be viewed with calm. Only by finding a balance between value and risk can the token economy truly mature, the roots of technology benefit all things, and the meaning of dawn be lasting and stable.