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China- and Hong Kong-listed shares linked to real-world asset (RWA) activity rose on Monday after Beijing published new documents addressing tokenisation tied to onshore assets, according to Reuters. Reuters reported Guotai Junan International Holdings (1788.HK) climbed more than 6% and GCL Energy Technology (002015.SZ) gained about 7% to a five-month high, alongside moves in other “RWA-related” and cryptology-services names.
The market reaction followed a Feb. 6 joint notice issued by eight central authorities—including the People’s Bank of China and the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC)—titled, as published by the CSRC. Reuters summarised the notice as stating that RWA tokenisation business is not allowed on the mainland, while regulators will “strictly vet” offshore issuance of tokens backed by Chinese onshore assets.
Separately, the CSRC on Feb. 6 issued Announcement 1 publishing a supervisory guideline for (tokenised asset-backed securities issued offshore and supported by cashflows from domestic assets/asset rights), effective from the publication date. The guideline sets out a CSRC filing requirement before launch and enumerates disqualifying conditions (including national-security concerns, certain ongoing investigations, and ownership or transferability disputes), and it states compliance is also required with cross-border investment, foreign-exchange, and data/cybersecurity rules.
The joint notice defines RWA tokenisation as turning ownership or income rights into tokens (or token-like equity/debt certificates) using cryptography and distributed-ledger (or similar) technologies for issuance and trading, and it introduces controls aimed at preventing unapproved activity. It also states that financial institutions and certain service providers must not provide custody, clearing/settlement or related services, intermediary support, or operating venues and promotion for tokenisation activity that lacks required consent, and the notice explicitly repeals the 2021 circular . Reuters linked Monday’s moves to investor positioning in firms perceived as exposed to the regulatory pathway for offshore issuance tied to onshore assets, while onshore activity remains prohibited absent approval and use of designated infrastructure.
For market participants, the documents collectively narrow and formalise the permitted structure: the CSRC guideline focuses on offshore tokenised ABS backed by domestic underlying assets, requiring a domestic filing entity to submit a filing report and issuance materials to the CSRC before launch and allowing CSRC to publish filing information after completion. Issuers, intermediaries, and technology providers linked to tokenised structures—as well as investors in firms exposed to virtual-asset licensing in Hong Kong—are directly impacted by the mainland prohibition on unapproved tokenisation and the new filing and eligibility constraints for offshore tokenised ABS backed by onshore assets.
