HK Web3 Feastival Panel: From "Asset Filing" to "On-Chain Issuance", Bridging the Last Mile for RWA Cross-Border Compliance

ChainCatcher live report: Tang Bo, Associate Dean of the Institute of Finance at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Fei Si, Partner at King & Wood Mallesons, Diao Zhihai, Head of International Wealth Management at China International Capital Corporation, and Gavin Wang, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of SNZ Holding & SNZ Capital, jointly attended the HK Web3 Feastival roundtable to share insights on “from asset registration to on-chain issuance,” facilitating the last mile of cross-border RWA compliance.

Fei Si pointed out that “from asset registration to on-chain issuance” essentially means creating a replicable, sustainable, and legally compliant channel for “domestic assets, overseas issuance.” He believes the most critical step at this stage is to first design the transaction structure and product at the top level, clarifying whether the product falls under equity or debt categories, as this directly determines the corresponding regulatory authorities, communication methods, and subsequent legal documentation arrangements.

From the perspective of practical operations at traditional financial institutions, Diao Zhihai believes that the biggest challenge is not a single pain point, but rather how to systematically connect multiple compliance nodes to form a truly workable closed-loop mechanism. He stated that cross-border RWA projects involve not only financial regulation, but also require collaboration across data transfers, cybersecurity, and foreign exchange management, so it is essential from the outset to examine whether the underlying assets can be clearly defined and mapped on-chain, who qualifies as a legitimate issuer and controlling entity, and whether all non-financial regulatory requirements throughout the whole process have been considered in the solution.

Gavin Wang, from the angle of investment and market demand, emphasized that global asset tokenization is already an inevitable trend, and high-quality Chinese assets are still evidently undervalued overseas, which means that as soon as cross-border compliance channels are established, real market demand will emerge. He believes that investment institutions care most about whether a project has clearly defined compliance boundaries and is marketable: clear regulatory lines must not be crossed, caution must be exercised around grey areas, and the most worthwhile investments are those assets with clearer regulatory outlooks that investors can more easily understand and accept. In the long run, he is most optimistic about two types of cross-border Chinese RWA: one is large-scale, high-quality Chinese assets that overseas investors can easily understand, and the other is globally competitive industrial assets in areas such as high-end manufacturing, robotics, AI, and pharmaceutical pipelines that remain undervalued abroad.