Overview
- Seven industry associations supervised by the PBOC and CSRC issued a December 5 notice declaring real‑world asset tokenization illegal under existing financial law.
- The notice states that no RWA projects have regulatory approval and rejects pilot programs or tiered regulatory paths.
- Regulators tied RWA activity to crimes such as illegal fundraising, unauthorized securities issuance, and illegal futures business, with potential prison terms.
- Legal exposure extends to domestic staff and contractors of overseas RWA service providers who know or should have known about the activities.
- Mainland-linked RWA inquiries in Hong Kong have reportedly fallen by more than 90% in two months as tokenization continues to grow in other jurisdictions through 2025.