Author: Ethan;
Editor: Hao Fangzhou
On July 17, Jia Yueting stood on a rooftop parking lot in downtown Los Angeles, under the afternoon sun and heat, speaking to the camera about FF's latest electric vehicle FX Super One, perhaps already planning the next 'show.' Who would have thought that before the 'car' even landed, Boss Jia's script had quietly turned to—Web3 ecology.
On July 22, FF quickly announced a strategic cooperation with the digital asset infrastructure platform HabitTrade. As expected, Boss Jia once again activated the 'concept output' mode, throwing out a dizzying array of concepts such as 'EAI mobility + Web3 + blockchain + crypto + stablecoin,' and even claimed to create a 'value fusion body' that connects 'Web2 & Web3,' 'on-chain & off-chain,' 'reality & virtual.' Truly a master-level statement in the world of PPT entrepreneurship.
RWA is not easy: what exactly can FF 'put on the chain'?
RWA, short for Real World Asset, sounds grand but is actually a very simple matter: moving off-chain valuable assets onto the chain for trading and circulation. That is to say, the project must present 'truly valuable things' from the real world, such as real estate, debt rights, accounts receivable, gold, artworks, etc., and these assets must meet two prerequisites: legal ownership and a clear profit path.
So the question arises: what assets does FF plan to use to tell the story of RWA?
Is it that Hanford factory, which has not achieved full production for many years, with external doubts about whether even water and electricity are connected? Is it the FF 91, which has a meager delivery volume and astonishing losses per vehicle? Or those 'future concept cars' that are released year after year, delayed year after year, and whose official Twitter accounts no longer dare to announce delivery times?
Not at all. Currently, the only thing FF can 'put on the chain' is those more than 10,000 pre-orders. Although the quantity is not large, for a company like FF, it is one of the few 'assets that can tell a story.' Although these orders have not yet been delivered and do not have the legal characteristics of accounts receivable, they represent a potential 'future cash flow,' which in traditional financial contexts belongs to 'contingent assets'—they cannot be recorded, but they can be packaged.
In other words, if Jia Yueting really wants to do RWA, the most realistic solution is: to package these more than 10,000 pre-orders into a 'future revenue rights asset pool,' and then have RWA Group design structured token products to be sold externally through the HabitTrade platform.
On the surface, this is called 'future revenue tokenization,' but in essence, it is financing 'the money to build cars' with 'commitments to sell cars.' The logic forms a closed loop, and it makes sense emotionally: trust me, give me your money; when I mass-produce, you will get your returns.
This aligns well with Jia Yueting's style and has a strong Web3 flavor.
Who is the real leader? What do HabitTrade and RWA Group really want?
If the pre-orders are the script of this RWA play, then HabitTrade and RWA Group are the true 'directors' and 'set managers' behind the scenes. To understand the design of this play, one must first look at their backgrounds and areas of expertise.
HabitTrade: The 'shuttle bus' of the stablecoin circle.
From publicly available information, HabitTrade is a 'global multi-market brokerage' registered in the Cayman Islands, but browsing its official website or app pages reveals that it is not a traditional stock trading platform. Its biggest feature is using stablecoins like USDT as an entry point, connecting U.S. stocks, Hong Kong stocks, ETFs, and crypto assets in an on-chain and off-chain manner.
Simply put, you can use USDT to buy Hong Kong stocks, and you can also convert U.S. stock returns back to on-chain assets. For users seeking flexibility and with vague compliance requirements, this kind of 'bridging of off-chain assets + on-chain liquidity' is exactly what they need.
The key is that HabitTrade is not just an entry point but also an 'execution platform.' It previously helped U-Power in a 'equity + token' blended financing attempt, and the approach is almost identical to FF's current pre-order tokenization concept—keeping the underlying assets unchanged, changing the financial packaging to attract a group of crypto speculators willing to bet with USDT.
Therefore, Jia Yueting's collaboration with HabitTrade this time is not coincidental, but a replication of a previous script.
RWA Group: Transformation from NFT to structured finance.
Let's also look at another partner—RWA Group. This name may not be very prominent, but you may have heard of its 'predecessor': NFT China. Yes, it is the Web3 project that made a high-profile exit during the NFT bull market in 2021, and has now transformed into a 'RWA tokenization expert.'
This transformation seems rushed, but in reality, it is precise: they are not creating assets, but are 'packagers of assets.' RWA Group excels at structural design, cross-border law, and technical compliance; in simple terms, it helps you 'tell stories' while also 'handling compliance issues.' It does not require FF to truly produce a lot of cars; it only needs FF to provide a model of 'predictable future cash flow,' and the rest—structural layering, revenue models, token issuance, on-chain linkage—can all be packaged and resolved.
At this point, the layout of this play becomes clear: FF provides the story materials (pre-orders); RWA Group is responsible for designing the narrative structure and issuance model; HabitTrade provides trading channels and USDT buyers. All of this indicates that this is not FF's unilateral 'chaotic on-chain dance,' but a meticulously 'calculated design' of a financial narrative project.
Its essence is neither a dream nor the idealism of manufacturing, but a precise structural arbitrage logic.
Self-rescue? Celebration? Stepping on a landmine? Is FF's RWA experiment reliable?
Breaking down this RWA model, it indeed superficially forms a logical closed loop: Jia Yueting exchanges 'promises of future car sales' for current USDT financing, promising to return to investors with 'revenue rights tokens' in the future. However, for the crypto circle, this kind of play is not new; it can even be said to be very familiar. To sum it up in jargon: 'futurism + tokenization + liquidity = short-term narrative premium.'
So is this approach reliable? We will analyze from three perspectives:
Short-term structure is feasible; narrative drives speculation.
As long as the pre-orders genuinely exist and have payment records, RWA Group can package them into a 'future cash flow asset pool,' then create token mappings according to the proportion of 'expected income rights,' and issue them on-chain to investors. HabitTrade has a complete stablecoin exchange system, able to easily list and trade USDT pairs, and can even add LP incentives to quickly attract the first batch of market participants.
A listed company + pre-orders + airdrop expectations—these three strategies are enough to ignite a wave of short-term market sentiment.
Therefore, there is a possibility of success on a speculative level—success or failure depends not on the product, but on 'FOMO (fear of missing out) + emotion + narrative.'
The underlying assets are in question; this is not RWA, but 'emotional crowdfunding.'
In-depth analysis reveals that the so-called underlying assets provided by FF—10,000 pre-orders—are actually assets that lack legal protection, cannot be legally enforced, and cannot confirm the ability to realize returns. In simple terms, it is not a collectible, redeemable receivable, but a 'trust-based promise.' What you are purchasing is not the cash flow of the orders, but Jia Yueting's credit, FF's ability to manufacture cars, and the market's collective imagination of 'delivery next week.'
This is not 'real world assets' on the chain, but rather 'tokenization of vision and belief.' If such operations are allowed to expand indefinitely, RWA will no longer be a bridge for traditional assets, but will become a packaging machine for narratives and speculation. Once participants are not investing in assets, but in 'investing in others' efforts,' this game will approach the critical point of a Ponzi scheme.
Playing RWA under the shadow of SEC regulation carries significant risks.
Let’s not forget that FF is a publicly traded company listed on Nasdaq. This means that no matter what new stories are told on-chain, it cannot escape the scrutiny of the traditional financial regulatory system.
Currently, FF is under SEC scrutiny due to financial disclosure issues from earlier years. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has issued warning letters to Jia Yueting and CEO Wang Jiawei, and may initiate enforcement actions. While the investigation is still ongoing, FF has announced a high-profile Web3 collaboration with HabitTrade, involving tokenized financing, which undoubtedly increases the compliance sensitivity of the entire project. (For details, see: (Jia Yueting, who just raised 700 million, is about to be 'caught'?))
Although FF has not yet explicitly launched any token or token sale plan, once it involves monetizing 'pre-orders' and raising funds from U.S. citizens, it could touch the SEC's regulatory red line regarding 'unregistered securities offerings.'
This is not marginal innovation, but a listed company walking a tightrope at the intersection of traditional and crypto finance.
What is the conclusion?
Short-term success may rely on speculation; mid-term issues may arise, stemming from regulation; whether success can be achieved in the long term depends on a core question: can FF really manufacture and deliver the cars?
If not, this on-chain financial innovation will ultimately be nothing more than an old dream wrapped in tokens.
Conclusion: Is this the future of RWA, or is it Jia Yueting's old path?
The core of financial innovation is not liquidity, but trust. And FF, under Jia Yueting, is precisely full of contradictions in this regard: he is extremely skilled in storytelling, yet consistently struggles with fulfilling promises; he can always stand at the forefront of capital, yet finds it difficult to deliver on the promises behind that capital.
This time, he attempts to use the name of RWA to continue a 'relay of belief' from Nasdaq to Web3: turning the future of mass-producing cars into tokens; transforming the money users prepay into circulating assets in investors' hands; wrapping a high-risk, uncertain, narrative-dependent business model in the guise of on-chain finance—continuing to tell stories.
But RWA is not a refuge in the crypto world; it is a bridge of 'off-chain assets + on-chain trust.' Once this bridge has one end obscured by unclear PPTs and the other end needing to deliver tokens, it will not go far and will not bear weight.
Ultimately, this is neither a victory for RWA nor for Web3, but another attempt by Jia Yueting in the art of 'how to tell a story that can be monetized.' He might succeed, allowing the stock price of FFAI to hold up for a while and buying himself a few months of capital survival time; he might also fail, prompting the SEC to act again, making the interface between Web3 and traditional finance a new regulatory testing ground. But regardless of the outcome, he has won what he is best at: attention, traffic, and a group of believers willing to bet on him again.
For Jia Yueting, this is still the script he is most familiar with, just with a different stage.
