Blockchain technology has become a core driving force for the digital transformation of the financial industry, demonstrating enormous potential in application scenarios such as cross-border payments and financial innovation, especially as stablecoins and RWA (Real World Assets) serve as key areas for the implementation of blockchain technology, attracting widespread attention from the global market.
To further promote industry exchange and deeply explore the opportunities and challenges brought by the rapid development of stablecoins and RWA. On the afternoon of August 22, the event 'Stablecoins and RWA Driven by Blockchain: Cross-Border Trade and Financial Innovation Practice Exploration' was successfully held in Shanghai, hosted by the Shanghai Financial Information Industry Association and the Shanghai Distributed Consensus Technology Association, organized by PANews in conjunction with the Mankun Law Firm, and supported by Mobile Payment Network and the Blockchain Technology Application Alliance.
Wu Jun, Secretary-General of the Shanghai Financial Information Industry Association, delivered the opening speech on behalf of the organizers, pointing out that stablecoins are not a completely new thing, but their payment attributes show significant advantages in cross-border trade, with characteristics of high efficiency and low cost. Compared to traditional financial systems, stablecoins can achieve second-level settlement and very low transaction fees, which may make them a highly potential payment tool in international trade.
However, he also emphasized that innovation must be promoted under a strict regulatory framework and compliance premise to ensure transparency, allowing participants to jointly promote the stable development of digital finance based on a full understanding of risks.
PANews senior journalist Wang Shengyu deeply analyzed the '2025 Global Stablecoin Industry Development Report' during the report interpretation session. He pointed out that stablecoins have become one of the most critical infrastructures connecting traditional finance with the crypto market, and are changing the global financial landscape. The speech comprehensively analyzed the stablecoin industry, systematically sorting out the development history, market structure, application scenarios, global regulation, development potential, and potential risks across six dimensions, combined with on-chain transaction data, policy progress, and industry evolution paths.
Mankun Law Firm senior lawyer Mao Jianhao, in the first thematic speech, deeply analyzed the core logic and compliance path of RWA tokenization from a legal compliance perspective. He pointed out that the core of RWA lies in the dual attributes of 'digitalization + programmability', both of which are indispensable, and took BlackRock's BUIDL fund as an example to elaborate on its compliance architecture and on-chain circulation mechanism, emphasizing that 'whitelist mechanism, redemption process, real-time valuation' is the first step in exploring compliant tokenized funds.
He believes that the future development of RWA will increasingly rely on stablecoins as underlying liquidity tools, and Hong Kong's stablecoin licensing system will provide a clear compliance framework for this field.
With the rise of stablecoins and RWA, the infrastructure layer for relevant application development has also begun to flourish. Zhang Yuanjie, co-founder and COO of Conflux, shared from the perspective of public chains the role of domestic public chains in global business for stablecoins and RWA, emphasizing the key position of the Asia-Pacific region, especially Hong Kong and mainland markets in the RWA ecosystem.
He also mentioned that the current market driving force for RWA mainly comes from the financial management needs of stablecoin holders, rather than traditional financial institutions, representing a bottom-up process of penetration from the crypto market to traditional finance.
The last speaker of the thematic sharing, Zheng Lijiang, research manager of Shanghai Wanxiang Blockchain Co., pointed out from the perspective of monetary theory that stablecoins are not currency, but 'quasi-currency', and their essence is digital certificates issued by the private sector based on reserves such as government bonds. He further analyzed the differences in stablecoin policies between the United States and Hong Kong, noting that Hong Kong currently emphasizes KYC and anti-money laundering rather than encouraging DeFi nesting.
"Exploration of Stablecoin Applications in Cross-Border Trade Payments" is the first topic of the roundtable dialogue session, hosted by senior lawyer Mao Jianhao from Mankun Law Firm, inviting guests including Zentek VP Erin Du, Robert Feng, Deputy Director of Global Institutional Cooperation at KUN, Xu Feng, founder of Coshine, and Derek Wan, head of BD at Cobo Payment, for discussion.
Zentek VP Erin Du pointed out that in cross-border payments, there are pain points such as slow bank reviews, long transaction cycles, and high fees, especially since the financial infrastructure in Southeast Asia is still not perfect.
Robert Feng, Deputy Director of Global Institutional Cooperation at KUN, added that the political and financial environments differ greatly between countries, and Latin America and Africa, due to weak financial systems, are more likely to accept stablecoins.
Xu Feng, founder of Coshine, shared his practice of connecting Visa's issuing system for overseas payment institutions, believing that stablecoins have entered the practical stage in To B scenarios.
Derek Wan, head of BD at Cobo Payment, emphasized that security is key to the implementation of stablecoin payments from the perspective of wallets and custody, and proposed a one-stop solution of 'full custody' and 'MPC custody' for the flexibility advantages of cross-border payment companies going overseas.
Guests unanimously agreed that stablecoins have moved from 'proof of concept' to 'scaled attempts' in cross-border payments, but compliance, security, and participation of financial institutions remain the main challenges.
The second roundtable dialogue focused on the topic of 'Market Dynamics and Application Potential of Stablecoins and RWA', hosted by PANews senior journalist Jae, with guests including Zhang Yuanjie, co-founder and COO of Conflux, Li Rongbin, deputy director of institutional business at GF Securities Shanghai branch, Siya, head of marketing at HashKey Group, and Cheng Yuan, anti-money laundering product expert at CertiK.
Zhang Yuanjie, co-founder and COO of Conflux, pointed out that the core driving force for RWA adoption is the financial management needs of stablecoin holders, and integrating DeFi protocols through a dual-return model of 'underlying asset returns + token incentives' greatly enhances attractiveness.
Li Rongbin, deputy director of institutional business at GF Securities Shanghai branch, believes that the enthusiasm of listed companies for RWA partly stems from 'market value management', but in the long term, it still needs to return to the quality and liquidity of the assets themselves.
Siya, head of marketing at HashKey Group, stated that 2025 will be the 'narrative year for RWA', with enhanced regulatory clarity, mature technological infrastructure, and the entry of institutions driving market explosion.
Cheng Yuan, anti-money laundering product expert at CertiK, emphasized from the perspective of compliance and security that RWA projects need to overcome compliance differences across multiple countries and monitor smart contract risks, suggesting that companies carefully consider costs and security.
Guests believe that while RWA has advantages such as 'democratized asset access' and 'global liquidity', it still faces bottlenecks such as high compliance costs, reliance on the European and American ecosystems for distribution channels, and a scarcity of asset managers.
