With the rapid development of the tokenization trend of Real-World Assets (RWA), the market has been rife with the rhetoric of 'everything can be RWA'. However, the 'RWA Industry Development Research Report · Industry Section 2025' (hereinafter referred to as 'the Report') released on August 7 in Hong Kong breaks this blind optimism and systematically proposes standards and frameworks for asset selection.
The report states that not all assets are suitable for RWA tokenization, and 'everything can be RWA' is a fallacy. Assets that successfully achieve large-scale implementation must meet three thresholds: stability of value, clarity of legal rights, and verifiability of off-chain data.
Currently, the RWA industry is at a critical juncture of transitioning from concept verification to practical application. According to Defillama data, as of June 2025, the total locked value (TVL) of RWA reached 12.5 billion USD, a 124% increase from 2024. RWA tokenization has become a key direction for global financial and blockchain industries, forming a pattern of collaborative efforts among traditional institutions, financial institutions, technology companies, and crypto projects.
Various entities are accelerating the transition of RWA from concept verification to large-scale application through cross-industry cooperation, compliance pilot projects, and underlying technology innovation. For example, leading global banks such as Citibank and Standard Chartered are exploring application scenarios of RWA in payment settlement, asset management, and cross-border transactions; Ant Group has launched a blockchain platform, Jovay, designed specifically for institutional-level RWA transactions, significantly enhancing throughput and reducing user response time.
As various types of assets gradually achieve on-chain tokenization, the application scenarios of RWA continue to expand, and several representative typical directions have emerged in practice. For example, five mainstream asset categories include financial assets such as gold, bonds, accounts receivable, and funds; new energy assets such as charging piles and photovoltaics; real estate such as hotels and real estate; intangible assets such as carbon credits, data, and intellectual property; and computing assets such as GPU hardware. Among these, new energy RWA represents 'Chinese characteristics' and showcases the enormous potential of green finance and real economy financing scenarios. Computing assets like GPUs, with the 'rigid demand' of the AI industry and trusted 'digital genes', have become ideal anchoring assets for RWA. At the same time, although there is also exploration in real estate RWA such as commercial real estate, it faces challenges such as differences in property registration, inconsistent valuations, and local regulatory compliance.
The report also points out that the deep integration of RWA and stablecoins marks a paradigm shift in 'on-chain finance', addressing the issues of 'transaction idling' and 'token rootlessness' in the crypto ecosystem, and promoting a transition from mere 'cryptocurrency speculation' to an 'on-chain value internet'.
In response to the new opportunities brought by RWA, regulatory bodies are gradually forming penetrating supervision principles and sandbox testing mechanisms, aimed at providing clear compliance paths for industry innovation. Regulatory agencies in various countries generally adopt penetrating supervision principles and build market barriers through licensing systems, while also establishing regulatory sandbox mechanisms to provide a controllable testing environment for innovative applications.
The report emphasizes that the rise of RWA is not accidental but the result of multiple factors working together, including the lack of liquidity in traditional assets, the maturity of blockchain technology, and changes in market demand. However, the development of RWA still faces significant risks, such as notable regulatory differences among countries, insufficient transparency of off-chain data, and poor liquidity of certain assets. Additionally, technical security vulnerabilities and contract complexity are also potential hazards. Therefore, while pursuing technological innovation, it is essential to pay attention to the importance of risk management and compliance construction.
It is understood that the 'RWA Industry Development Research Report · Industry Section 2025' was initiated by the Hong Kong Web3.0 Standards Association, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the Digital Economy Research Center of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area International Information Technology Association, and the IEEE Computer Society Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Standardization Committee.