What Key Points Must Enterprises Pay Attention to When Entering RWA?
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What Key Points Must Enterprises Pay Attention to When Entering RWA?
The RWA approach that generates the greatest value and is most suitable for us must involve mainland assets, compliant cross-border data transfer, and overseas fundraising—ensuring controllable assets, trustworthy data, and accessible capital.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAt the beginning of 2025, Hong Kong has already released two "explosive" news items: one is华夏 Bank launching Asia-Pacific’s first retail tokenized fund in Hong Kong (click on Crypto Salad's article “Asia-Pacific’s First Retail Tokenized Fund Lands in Hong Kong! Web3 Lawyers Deep Dive into On-Chain Innovation of Fund Tokenization and the Future of RWA” for more details); the other is Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary announcing an upcoming second Hong Kong Virtual Asset Development Policy Statement, focusing on further innovation in integrating traditional assets with virtual assets.
To many people, these two positive developments signify the practical implementation of regulatory compliance for RWA projects. Meanwhile, combined with the successful launch and financing of 10 million RMB for “Malu Grapes”—the first agricultural-sector RWA project in mainland China—on the Shanghai Digital Asset Exchange, RWA tokenization seems to have rapidly transformed from a mere “concept” into tangible “implementation.” As a result, whether on the asset side, intermediary service providers, or among primary investors, everyone has been actively engaged in related activities, holding numerous discussions and receiving frequent project inquiries every day.
Crypto Salad has recently received a large number of requests from project teams seeking to launch their initiatives, covering a wide range of underlying assets including bonds, gold, rare metals, non-performing assets, agricultural products, property rental income, commodities, digital copyrights, fan economies, and more.
As we delve deeper into evaluating various projects, each team ultimately returns to fundamental questions:
Is my project truly suitable for RWA?
If not, then which types of projects are actually suitable?
What exactly are the requirements for real-world assets in RWA? Can all forms of real-world assets be tokenized?
What kind of token am I issuing? Is it just a "shitcoin"?
If it's not a shitcoin, will crypto-native investors have any motivation to trade or speculate on assets that are physically backed (and thus relatively stable in value) and tied to specific ownership rights?
...
Today, based on our practical experience, Crypto Salad attempts to address these critical questions.
Let us start with a key conclusion: The most valuable and viable path for exploring RWA lies in combining mainland Chinese assets with compliant cross-border data transfer mechanisms and overseas fundraising—achieving controllable assets, trustworthy data, and accessible capital.
1. Understanding RWA
First, let’s clarify what RWA means. RWA stands for Real-World Assets Tokenization—the process of packaging the value, operations, and revenue data of real-world assets onto a blockchain as digital tokens (digital securities), enabling issuance, fundraising, and trading for investors on-chain.
Many enterprises are drawn to RWA due to its potential as a lucrative fundraising tool. So, what are the actual characteristics of RWA in terms of fundraising?
Since RWA involves a “tokenization” process similar to asset “securitization,” and also includes aspects akin to ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings), which resemble IPOs (Initial Public Offerings), it helps to compare them directly.
1.1 Core Focus on Underlying Assets
The biggest difference is that RWA centers around tangible underlying assets rather than being purely speculative or baseless—such tokens can be referred to as Asset-Backed Tokens (ABTs).
Because the focus is on real assets, the fundraising mechanism does not rely primarily on corporate creditworthiness but instead depends on the valuation of the underlying asset itself. Therefore, a company’s long-term profitability isn’t the most crucial factor; even if only a portion of a company’s assets holds value and growth potential, those specific assets can be packaged and tokenized for fundraising. This opens up new possibilities and expands imagination for enterprise financing.
Which assets are suitable for RWA?
In terms of effectiveness, RWA projects are best suited for high-value, high-quality assets that require enhanced liquidity and lower investment thresholds. Some commonly accepted and easily understood categories include:
Stablecoins: Backed by fiat currencies or cash equivalents—e.g., early digital dollar tokens like USDT and USDC—which are arguably the most successful RWA projects on the market.
Bonds and Stocks: Tokenizing traditional financial instruments such as bonds and equities to improve liquidity and market access—for example, USYC, backed by U.S. Treasury bonds.
Real Estate: Lowering entry barriers through fractional ownership—e.g., platforms like RealT.
Commodities: Physical assets such as carbon credits or precious metals—for instance, PAXG, pegged to physical gold.
1.2 Speed of Fundraising
RWA leverages smart contracts and other blockchain technologies to digitize the entire fundraising process on-chain, creating structured and standardized data—effectively turning asset information into a tradable commodity. From asset evaluation, token issuance, to capital raising, blockchain’s transparency and traceability significantly accelerate the speed of fundraising.
1.3 Asset Liquidity
RWA uses blockchain technology to tokenize, fractionalize, and internationalize real-world assets. For example, a $50 million property may be unaffordable for most individuals, but dividing it into one million fractions makes participation accessible to nearly anyone. It’s like installing wheels under otherwise immovable assets—enabling rapid movement within markets. Enhanced liquidity increases investor willingness to participate, knowing they can exit quickly when needed.
While individual tokens may represent one hundred-thousandth or even one ten-millionth of a house—and prices will fluctuate according to secondary market sentiment—they always maintain a relatively stable reference point: the intrinsic value of the underlying asset itself.
2. Challenges Facing Enterprise RWA Implementation
Given the appealing benefits of RWA, why are there still so few successful cases among mainland Chinese enterprises? Based on our practice, Crypto Salad identifies two major challenges enterprises commonly face:
2.1 Regulatory Compliance Challenge
RWA inherently involves “tokens,” but mainland China explicitly prohibits cryptocurrency exchanges from facilitating conversion, trading, or pricing services for virtual currencies. This is precisely why compliance takes top priority in any RWA initiative.
Article 3 of the Notice on Further Preventing and Addressing Risks of Cryptocurrency Trading Speculation:
All cryptocurrency-related business activities constitute illegal financial activities. Engaging in exchange between legal tender and cryptocurrencies, between different cryptocurrencies, acting as a central counterparty buying/selling cryptocurrencies, providing information intermediation or pricing services for cryptocurrency transactions, conducting token issuance financing, or trading cryptocurrency derivatives—all涉嫌 illegal issuance of token vouchers, unauthorized public securities offerings, illegal futures operations, or illegal fundraising—are strictly prohibited and subject to immediate shutdown. Those who commit crimes through such illegal financial activities shall bear criminal responsibility.
Therefore, mainland enterprises must design a fully compliant pathway to implement RWA.
Tokens cannot be issued within mainland China. However, the underlying assets may reside domestically or offshore, and the overall structure can involve cross-border coordination—or operate entirely offshore—to meet regulatory requirements for token issuance.
For cross-border projects, the first unavoidable step is asset financialization.
Since RWA projects must interact with regulators across jurisdictions, failing to link the product to standardized financial instruments (equity, debt, shares) could impair enforceability of legal rights. In a global environment where digital regulation remains incomplete, the legitimacy of RWA hinges on its compatibility with existing legal frameworks. Without linking to recognized financial instruments, projects lose access to established legal infrastructure, increasing regulatory friction and undermining legal enforceability. Only after financialization can enterprise assets be properly tokenized via smart contracts.
2.2 How to Attract Investor Interest?
A true pain point—and one of the most frequently asked questions from companies consulting Crypto Salad—is this: After issuing the token, how can it gain value and attract buyers?
To deeply understand this issue, let’s review some basics about digital currencies.
Can you clearly distinguish between mainstream coins (like BTC), altcoins, meme coins, scam coins ("doggie coins"),貔貅 coins (trapping-style scams), and air coins?
These differ slightly in nature, but mainly due to differences in their foundational mechanisms:
Mainstream coins like BTC use PoW (Proof-of-Work) consensus requiring computational power competition. ETH transitioned to PoS (Proof-of-Stake), lowering issuance costs by allowing validators to stake tokens. In the Web3 era, both technical barriers and issuance costs have dropped dramatically, thanks to standardized protocols like Ethereum’s ERC-20, enabling rapid token creation using code templates. The year 2024 was a classic example of rampant air coin proliferation, with countless tokens deployed on chains like Solana and Base.
Clearly, launching a token in the Web3 world is no longer difficult.
But is listing on an exchange hard?
Crypto Salad tells you—it’s actually not that hard either—at least achieving initial on-chain circulation isn't. To get listed on a centralized exchange (“listing”), especially a major one, presents somewhat greater difficulty. But based on our experience, highly influential tokens often get proactively listed by top-tier exchanges, while less prominent ones can still achieve listing if they pass standard compliance reviews.
However, since Hong Kong began issuing licenses to regulated virtual asset exchanges, corporate attention has shifted toward licensed, compliant exchanges. Now, the burning question for enterprises is: How can I seize the opportunity to list on a compliant exchange?
Here, we need to clearly define what constitutes a “compliant exchange.”
Crypto Salad defines a compliant exchange as one legally authorized with a virtual asset trading license under its jurisdiction’s regulations. There’s another category of potentially “compliant” exchanges: those located in jurisdictions maintaining neutral policies toward virtual assets—neither banning nor actively regulating related businesses. Under the principle of “what is not forbidden is permitted,” such exchanges cannot be deemed illegal. Of course, under growing pressure from governments led by the U.S., global crypto regulatory frameworks are becoming increasingly clear, and definitions of “compliance” will become stricter over time.
Now we’ve addressed the technical feasibility of issuing tokens and accessing compliant exchanges. At this stage, the RWA token finally reaches the secondary market for circulation. We return to the original question: Who will invest in these tokens?
Investors willing to buy RWA tokens must meet two conditions: having investment motivation + qualifying as (offshore) accredited investors.
In the Web3 world, token value is determined by mechanics such as issuance method, tokenomics, supply dynamics, etc. Most participants enter the market chasing “100x” or “1000x” returns—the recent Trump-themed token being a perfect example, surging up to 800% in just months. Ultimately, it was just an air coin—no fundamentals, difficult to value—driven purely by emotional hype.
In contrast, RWA tokens are anchored to real assets whose values remain relatively stable, making exponential price surges impossible. If someone buys an RWA token, they’re likely doing so because of the inherent value of the underlying asset. Achieving investor interest therefore relies entirely on the strength of the real-world asset. Herein lies a conflict: When tokens are tied to real assets, they deviate from the prevailing speculative culture in today’s Web3 ecosystem. With limited upside potential, only investors genuinely interested in the asset itself will participate.
Additionally, under secondary market compliance rules, exchanges generally impose investor eligibility criteria to protect users. For example, the tokenized fund launched by华夏 Bank is available exclusively to Hong Kong-based investors.
Requiring both interest and accreditation as an (offshore) qualified investor drastically narrows the pool of potential buyers.
3. How Should Enterprises Implement RWA Projects? What Preparations Are Needed? What Can Crypto Salad Do?
3.1 Preliminary Screening of Viable RWA Projects
In practice, we find many enterprises are merely intrigued by RWA and believe they possess assets suitable for tokenization—but struggle to articulate a clear plan for structuring the underlying asset, or even lack full understanding of their own asset profile.
Crypto Salad offers an imperfect analogy: Just as parents planning for a child’s overseas education should first assess the student’s academic background, target destinations, and budget before engaging an agency, enterprises must first thoroughly evaluate their own asset status, identify suitable underlying assets, and ensure these assets are closely linked to core business operations.
This demands high-level expertise within the enterprise—cross-disciplinary talent who understand both traditional business operations and Web3 mechanics. Before launching an RWA project, enterprises must recognize that RWA is a complex, interdisciplinary endeavor intersecting industry, finance, and digital technology—requiring “internally capable and externally adaptive” professionals.
3.2 Prioritize Technology and Compliance – Frontload Dual Risks
Once preliminary screening is complete, the Crypto Salad team collaborates closely with enterprise leadership to deeply analyze the RWA solution. This includes designing the token economic model, developing the technical architecture for token issuance, defining data collection methods, estimating costs and timelines, and mapping out the compliance pathway. Given variations in enterprise type and asset class, regulatory requirements across regions and countries differ significantly regarding product operation and circulation. We help enterprises prioritize both technological development and regulatory compliance, frontloading dual risks.
3.3 Project Execution and Primary Market Fundraising
After finalizing the plan, the project moves into execution. The core objective of the Crypto Salad team at this stage is to support full project implementation. Specific tasks include conducting in-depth due diligence, drafting whitepapers, developing and deploying smart contracts, preparing comprehensive legal documentation, and coordinating with all stakeholders throughout the RWA lifecycle. Ultimately, the project achieves successful asset tokenization.
3.4 Listing Strategy, Secondary Market Circulation & Ongoing Management
This phase requires fine-tuning based on evolving policy landscapes, enterprise needs, and investor trends to facilitate exchange listing and secondary market trading. Our overseas partners maintain strong relationships with licensed and major exchanges. Additionally, as a Web3 legal team with extensive experience serving Chinese enterprises in投融资, we customize投融资 legal documents, continuously monitor regulatory changes, and provide dynamic compliance adjustment strategies.
3.5 Community Engagement & Promotion – Serving as Your Long-Term Strategic Advisor
At this stage, enterprises typically require support in community operation strategy and execution—including establishing brand communities, configuring community management tools, and localizing multilingual content. We assist in connecting with media outlets and KOLs, tailoring communication strategies accordingly. Enterprises also need ongoing monitoring and optimization of operational workflows—such as regularly reporting asset tokenization rates—and utilizing mechanisms like token release/burn schedules and market cap management strategies.
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