This month, US and Hong Kong regulatory approaches to digital assets sharply diverged. At @cyberport_hk Hong Kong @DraperDragon Summit, Charles Li (ex-@HKEXGroup CEO, MCEX founder), Prof. Wang Yang (@HKUniversity Vice Principal), Cai Wensheng (angel investor), Larry Li (Draper Dragon GP) and many more industry insiders unpacked the evolving policy landscape and on-chain economy. 1/ US Push for Onshore Innovation: -The US aims to bring the on-chain economy onshore. The SEC now exempts "tokenised securities venues" and "liquidity providers" on permissionless blockchains as long as participants are whitelisted, while fully decentralized systems (like Uniswap) require no exemption. -Although the Clarity Act stalled due to ethical conflict of interest concerns, it established a blueprint for the SEC and CFTC to advance pro-crypto policies that protect market participants while serving the public interest. -Builders agree these rules provide the certainty needed to confidently build in US. 2/ Hong Kong's Regulatory Crossroads: -Delays and restrictions have pushed HK's on-chain economy offshore. Policies emphasize risk management, requiring pre-approvals and strict caution under a "same activity, same risks, same regulation" principle. -These guardrails block smart contract-driven capital flows and composability, hindering product-market fit. -Consequently, many Chinese builders are relocating to the Middle East, SE Asia, and LATAM. 3/ Strategic Divergence: -Charles Li noted the US uses crypto to strengthen the dollar, whereas China views permissionless crypto as capital flight, prompting a reevaluation of HK's thesis. -Cai Wensheng argued that giving HKD stablecoin licenses only to traditional banks would stifles innovation, as they were unlikely to disrupt their own businesses model. -Mainland enterprises in HK are barred from stablecoin activities due to capital controls. HK's stablecoin economy needs their participation to thrive, as bridging this gap is HK's traditional role. 4/ A New Pathway for Hong Kong: -Prof. Wang Yang urged shifting HK's policies from pre-approvals to direct registration, and from containment to enablement with targeted exceptions. -The goal is to bring the onchain economy back to the HK onshore whitelist market. He urged HK to treat crypto as a permissionless programmable financial infrastructure, not just a new asset class, summarizing: "Innovation happens on the rails, not in the rulebooks. Build for markets that exist not against markets we scare away."

Last week’s Draper Summit felt like a homecoming. I remember reading about Tim Draper's incredible track record backing companies like Baidu, Tesla, SpaceX, and Coinbase. Back in college, when I first aspired to be a founder and VC, I bought his book, The Startup Hero. Today, I’m incredibly grateful to be here learning from the greats, discussing the future, and reconnecting with fellow founders. Key Themes 1/ Democratisation -Tom Staudt (President & COO, ARK Invest) highlighted the demand for financial vehicles that democratise retail access to pre-IPO investments, especially as high-quality companies stay private longer. (ARK’s Venture Fund has surged 62% over the past year, reaching $900M in total assets). -Mogul (a Draper Associates portfolio company) is democratising real estate investment in which lowering the barrier to entry isn't just about general accessibility; it's about reducing minimum investment amounts and operational overhead. 2/ Convergence of Technologies -Sid Sijbrandij (GitLab Co-founder) provided a perfect example of how converging technologies push humanity forward through his approach to treating his own osteosarcoma (bone cancer). He leveraged AI to review medical literature, open-sourced his clinical data and experimental scans to target specific biomarkers, and then underwent surgery based on those findings. Key Macro Themes 1/ The Headwinds
-Britt Harris (former CEO of Bridgewater) and Robert Steven Kaplan (Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs) deconstructed current macro challenges. -Persistent fiscal deficits are potentially stress-testing the private credit sector. -AI threatens to accelerate unemployment and inequality; we have no choice but to embrace and adapt to the disruption. -Geopolitical risks threaten to spike energy costs, and high oil prices increase the risk of stagflation. 2/ The Tailwinds -Baiju Bhatt (Robinhood Co-founder) is now building Cowboy Space Corporation to scale orbital power grids. This addresses the massive energy and compute infrastructure bottlenecks facing AI hardware. -Rosie Rios (43rd US Treasurer) remains optimistic about empowering young founders, highlighted by her involvement in the America 250 startup competition and Draper TV. -There is still a strong appetite to deploy capital into disruptive technologies, setting up a potentially big year for IPOs. Capital continues to concentrate in heavyweights like SpaceX, Anthropic, OpenAI, Databricks, and Stripe.

Hong Kong Web3 Festival 2026 was full of optimism despite the crypto bear market and recent DeFi exploits. RWA and Hong Kong's macro outlook dominated the conversation and for good reason. The regulatory and structural catalysts emerging now are the most significant since the city positioned itself as Asia's digital asset hub. AXC Labs shared the stage with @_BitfireGroup , @AWSstartups , @Hex_Trust , @GSR_io , @ostium , and many more to unpack why digital asset adoption will scale in Hong Kong. 1/ China's Document 42:
-Issued in February 2026, Document 42 replaces prior guidance with a categorized onshore regulatory framework. -Cryptocurrency remains prohibited, but the real signal is what's now permitted RWA has been formally defined in ministerial documents for the first time, asset-backed security tokens will follow the CSRC filing system, and financial institutions can now participate in compliant RWA products. -The message is clear, crack down unregulated crypto activities while integrating tokenized real-world assets into the formal financial system with a tangible compliance path. 2/ First HKD Stablecoin Licenses:
-In April 2026, HKMA granted the first batch of stablecoin licenses to HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial, a joint venture between Standard Chartered, HKT, and Animoca Brands. -The addressable market for on-chain wealth management products in Hong Kong will continue to scale. 3/ Hong Kong as a Strategic Hub:
-The macro backdrop continues to favor Hong Kong. The city remains the primary channel through which foreign capital enters China and Chinese companies access global markets -In 2025, its IPO market reclaimed the top global position by capital raised. We expect Hong Kong to serve as the dominant hub not only between Chinese and international capital markets but also between TradFi and the on-chain economy.

This is an excellent piece answering the 'why' of tokenising securities. Its cost-benefit framework makes a strong case for policymakers to adopt this technology. I’ve previously argued that tokenisation makes sense when (Value Creation from New Use Cases + Capital Efficiencies) > (Risk & Cost of Static Tokenization Wrappers). This a16z article takes that thesis even further. 1/ The Strategic Value of Moving On-Chain -Beyond Operational Efficiency: Transitioning to the blockchain is a fundamental paradigm shift and enabling disintermediation in finance, not just a minor upgrade to existing operational workflows. 2/ Economic Trade-Offs of Native On-Chain Assets -Key Benefits Atomic (instant) settlement and continuous 24/7 trading. Real-time, on-chain transparency. Concrete, direct cost reductions driven by smart contract automation. Lower barriers to entry for developers building products on top of the financial stack. -Key Costs & Risks: Potential erosion of traditional investor protections and increased regulatory arbitrage. The risk that DeFi-enabled derivative ecosystems could introduce systemic stress to traditional markets. Additional layers of risk stemming from DeFi smart contract vulnerabilities. 4/ Core Operating Principles -Non-Custodial Architecture: Users retain full control of their assets at all times. -Neutral Execution: No discretionary trade execution, solicitation, or investment recommendations are provided. -Decentralized Integration: Exclusive integration with genuinely decentralized protocols (with certain allowances for protocols actively pursuing decentralization in good faith). The focus is shifting from 'why' to 'how.' Builders are creating frameworks for safe, credible asset integration across composable DeFi ecosystems leveraging tokenised securities for lending, restructuring, and tranching. Standardizing these modular CeDeFi workflows will be the key to unlocking mass adoption.

During @consensus2026 week, we co-hosted the Global RWA Alliance lunch with @plumenetwork , @WisdomTreeFunds , and @osldotcom . I took the stage to discuss the Structural Inefficiencies of Tokenized Alternatives. Here is the breakdown: 1/ The Cost Reality: Tokenization isn't free. There are hidden costs: premium minting/redemption fees, operational drag, and complex legal wrappers. 2/ Tokenisation Value Proposition: However, the value prop can potentially outweighs the cost if we unlock utility. Tokenization expands the Total Addressable Market (TAM). Furthermore, once an asset is permissionless, programmable, and has transparent price discovery, it unlocks new financial use cases in the DeFi economy (e.g., lending, leveraging), ultimately increasing capital efficiency. 3/ The PMF Equation: The Product-Market Fit for tokenized alternative assets can be defined as follows: (Value Creation from New Use Cases + Capital Efficiencies) > (Risk & Cost of Static Tokenization Wrappers) 4/ The Critical Caveat: The DeFi world operates in a permissionless, algorithmic manner. Therefore, liquidity and price discovery for tokenized assets are the critical keys to unlocking these additional use cases. Special thanks to @teddyP_xyz @sasagoongooncat @nonplayablecin for putting this together

The question here is will the on chain price of the tokenised treasury fund remain same as fund’s NAV or different? 1/ My assumption is that it will be different since the whitelist market makers cannot profitably arbitrage the price difference unless the deviation exceeds the cost of minting or redeeming the token. 2/ Consequently, higher fees result in wider disconnects between the token price and the NAV of the underlying asset.

Onchain infrastructure unlock value that Traditional Finance infrastructure cannot match. 1/ The first step is operational efficiency: 24/7, Instant settlements, Stablecoin rails, Fractional Share Trading etc 2/ The next step is capital efficiency: Open and programmable where tokenised stocks meets dApps. (Eg, Collateralizing Tesla stock and borrowing stablecoins on a decentralised lending networks) But I believe we are far from this end game.