Policy shift: From 'strict defense' to 'proactive attack'.
On July 10, the Shanghai State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission's central group study meeting first included stablecoins as a special topic.
Release three major signals
Regulatory breakthrough: Policies shift from 'blocking' to 'combining blocking and unblocking', requiring state-owned enterprises to explore the implementation of blockchain in three major scenarios: cross-border payments, supply chain finance, and asset digitization.
System first: Plans to issue the Shanghai Stablecoin Pilot Management Office within the year, building a 'digital asset trading platform' led by state-owned enterprises, creating the first compliance framework for RMB stablecoins.
Terminology change: The meeting used 'digital currency' instead of 'cryptocurrency', implying a shift in focus towards the combination of stablecoins and the real economy, rather than speculative trading.
Personal opinion: Shanghai's move is not merely following a trend, but aimed at addressing the dilemma of US dollar stablecoins monopolizing 99.9% of global trading volume, using offshore RMB stablecoins as a spear to compete for digital trade settlement rights.
Three Battlefields: How is blockchain reshaping the real economy?
Case: Cross-border payments eliminated a 6% 'intermediary tax'.
Traditional cross-border remittance fees can be as high as 6.35%, taking several days. However, the offshore RMB stablecoin tested in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone achieves 'payment upon settlement' through real-time linkage with customs data, reducing costs to $0.00025 and time to minutes.
Essence: Use blockchain to bypass SWIFT, allowing the RMB to directly penetrate the entire trade process.
Risk warning: Innovation and deception are only a fine line apart.
Shanghai policy appendix Article 17 sets a safety iron gate: requiring enterprises to pass PCI-DSS 4.0 financial security certification, with 95% of blockchain companies being turned away, while cities like Shenzhen and Beijing have warned against illegal fundraising related to 'stablecoin investments', such as the 'Xinkangjia case' involving 13 billion yuan, with 1.8 billion USDT transferred to a Cayman shell company within 48 hours.
Core contradiction: Stablecoins are neither legal tender nor easily classified as securities or trusts, leading to ambiguous legal attributes that may trigger regulatory vacuums.
Global chessboard: Why is Shanghai the key to breaking the deadlock?
USA: Incorporate stablecoins into payment tools under the GENIUS Act; EU: Mandatory licensed operations under MiCA regulations; Shanghai: Leveraging Hong Kong as an offshore pivot to utilize the stablecoin regulations from August 1, using the Free Trade Zone as a sandbox, breaking the deadlock with RWA + industrial scenarios.
Hong Kong Zhong An Bank holds 15 billion HKD in stablecoin reserves, and the mBridge hub processes real-time exchanges of seven stablecoins, becoming the best springboard for Shanghai.
When Captain Old Li and others got used to transferring 3.2 billion worth of goods using their mobile phones, the underlying rules of global trade were rewritten along the Huangpu River in this smoke-free 'Battle of Shangganling'. The winners are destined to be those who hold both tangible assets and comply with technology.