Li Xiaojia on RWA: Tokenization Cannot Reduce the Risks of Underlying Real-World Assets

Caixin Digan Tong will abandon its plan to list its subsidiary Digan Investment on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange by the end of 2025. One of the founders and chairman, Li Xiaojia, revealed to Caixin on March 5 that starting from March 2026, Digan Investment will initiate a private equity fund process.

Many market participants are hopeful that once the private fund process begins, Digan Tong could generate asset-backed securities (ABS) based on its cash rights contracts, potentially following the new regulatory rules issued by the China Securities Regulatory Commission in February this year, and become a pioneer in tokenizing real-world assets (RWA) in the market. However, Li Xiaojia explicitly stated that Digan Tong currently has no demand for RWA tokenization.

No RWA plans for now

The so-called new regulations issued in February refer to the “Notice on Further Preventing and Disposing of Risks Related to Virtual Currencies and Other Matters” (referred to as “Document No. 42”) released by the People’s Bank of China and seven other departments on February 6, 2026. It clarifies the regulatory stance on virtual currencies and RWA, allowing assets within China to be issued abroad as RWA but under strict regulation. Meanwhile, the China Securities Regulatory Commission’s official website published the “Regulatory Guidelines for the Overseas Issuance of Asset-Backed Securities Tokens Based on Domestic Assets” (referred to as the “Guidelines”), which provides practical procedures for asset securitization categories of RWA. (See Caixin Weekly | Strict Regulation of Overseas RWA)