China’s securities regulator has quietly asked several mainland brokerages to pause their real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation businesses in Hong Kong, according to people familiar with the matter. The informal guidance from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) lands just as Hong Kong leans on tokenisation—and stablecoin licensing—as pillars of its “crypto hub” agenda for 2025.
What happened
Reuters reports the CSRC has “informally advised some domestic brokerages to halt their real-world asset tokenisation activities in Hong Kong,” a move framed by one source as aimed at “strengthening risk management” and ensuring corporate claims are backed by legitimate underlying business lines. Hong Kong-listed affiliates of several brokers fell on the headline. The duration of the pause is unclear.
The stakes for Hong Kong’s “RWA tokenisation 2025” push
RWA tokenisation—turning claims on real estate, bonds, funds or equities into programmable tokens—has been a flagship narrative in Hong Kong’s digital-asset strategy, alongside a stablecoin regime and tokenised bond pilots. Officials have repeatedly positioned the city as a rules-first lab where capital-markets plumbing can modernise without sacrificing investor protection. “Our regime is premised on the ‘same activity, same risk, same regulation’ principle,” Financial Secretary Paul Chan said earlier this year, underscoring that innovation must sit inside familiar guardrails.
That prudence has been explicit on stablecoins, too. In August, the HKMA and SFC reminded applicants that the city “adopts a robust and prudent approach, with a reasonably high bar” for licences—language that now reads like a pre-emptive signal that CSRC digital-asset policy concerns would be taken seriously on the other side of the border.
A tale of two rulebooks
Beijing’s posture toward crypto remains cautious after the 2021 bans on trading and mining. Hong Kong’s has been selectively permissive: licensing virtual-asset platforms, piloting tokenised green bonds, and drafting a formal fiat-stablecoin regime. The new CSRC guidance doesn’t rewrite Hong Kong law; it narrows the channel for mainland-linked firms to originate RWA deals from the city. In practice, that could slow pipelines for brokerage affiliates arranging tokenised notes, funds or property-linked products for offshore clients.
“The SFC will continue to monitor market activities closely and will not hesitate in taking forceful and decisive actions to maintain market integrity and protect investors from undue risks.” — SFC/HKMA joint communication (Aug. 14, 2025)
Who’s in the blast radius
- Brokerage affiliates and arrangers: Reuters has previously flagged activity among mainland groups exploring RWAs from Hong Kong; the pause injects uncertainty into deal flow and timelines.
- Infrastructure providers: Tokenisation platforms, trustees, auditors and data oracles face near-term pipeline risk as issuers reassess regulatory clarity.
- Issuers in property and credit: Developers that floated Hong Kong-based tokenisation structures may shift to wait-and-see until supervisors align. Reuters recently highlighted Seazen Group’s plans to explore tokenisation from Hong Kong—projects of that profile will now be scrutinised.
Market angle: how “RWA-linked” tokens traded
Initial sentiment was fragile across the theme. Ondo (ONDO), often cited as RWA infrastructure exposure, hovered near flat to slightly positive over 24 hours around press time; Polymesh (POLYX) traded mixed to lower on some venues, underscoring headline risk to the niche. Price feeds showed ONDO near the $0.90–$1.00 band today, while POLYX oscillated intraday. The takeaway: RWA token baskets didn’t collapse, but they did trade choppily as investors digested the policy signal.
(Separately, Avalanche—home to prominent tokenisation pilots—remained a focal point for tokenisation narratives, though its price action today appeared driven more by ETF and stablecoin news than by the Hong Kong headline.)
Why this pause matters beyond one headline
- Confidence and cost of capital: If originators pull back, project financing and underwriting spreads may widen for tokenised deals, slowing the graduation from pilots to production.
- Regulatory divergence: The Hong Kong crypto hub ambition relies on predictable cross-border coordination. Divergences between CSRC digital-asset policy and Hong Kong’s perimeter create friction for mainland-linked sponsors.
- Signalling effect: Supervisory caution from Beijing can chill appetite among banks, trustees and auditors essential to institutional-grade RWAs—well before any formal rules change.
What to watch next
- Scope & duration: Do instructions remain informal and targeted, or broaden across product types?
- Hong Kong’s response: Any clarifications from HKMA/SFC on treatment of RWA pilots and whether the RWA tokenisation Hong Kong 2025 roadmap needs pacing changes.
- Secondary market tells: Follow share-price moves in Hong Kong-listed brokerages and slippage in tokenised issuance calendars; watch whether RWA-linked tokens sustain today’s choppy trade.
Key takeaways
- CSRC has asked several mainland brokers to pause RWA tokenisation in Hong Kong, signalling prudential concerns as volumes grow.
- Hong Kong’s rulebook remains in place, but cross-border guidance narrows the channel for mainland-linked sponsors.
- RWA-linked tokens traded mixed, reflecting headline sensitivity but no wholesale capitulation.
- The hub strategy is being stress-tested, not abandoned; next steps hinge on alignment between Beijing and Hong Kong.
Bottom line
Beijing just tapped the brakes on Hong Kong’s tokenisation sprint; whether this becomes a detour or a roadblock depends on how quickly supervisors align definitions, disclosures and guardrails.
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