DID Alliance Attends Hong Kong Web3 Carnival Art Digital Asset Session: Digital Identity Empowers Assetization of Artworks

"Digital assetization of artworks is not just a technical showcase, but an upgrade of identity and systems."

Kowloon, Hong Kong, an industry dialogue focusing on digital assets of artworks
On April 22, 2026, the "Art Digital Asset Session" of the 2026 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival was held at the Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The event was co-hosted by the China Society for Economic and Cultural Exchange (Hong Kong), China Digital Cultural Identity Certification Service Co., Ltd., and Hong Kong Art Reality Assets Ltd., with the Hong Kong Institute of Finance and Zhongxin International Auction Co., Ltd. as co-organizers. During the same period, the Lirenxing Scroll Coin Launch Conference and the China Antique Art Culture MA Code Global Certification Launch were also held.
Eugene Xiao, Chairman of the Global Digital Identity Alliance (DID Alliance), was invited to attend and delivered a keynote speech titled "Deep Integration of DID Digital Identity and Art Digital Assets."
Eugene Xiao: Art Digital Assetization Cannot Avoid the Barrier of Identity
In his speech, Eugene straightforwardly pointed out that the core obstacle faced by the current digital assetization of artworks is not whether technology can be on-chain, but three unresolved underlying issues:
• Unverifiable identity. There is a lack of a unified identity anchor among artists, issuing institutions, collectors, and licensors, and conflicts between on-chain anonymity and off-chain real-name systems, making access and review difficult to implement.
• Uncertain ownership rights. The authenticity, source chain, copyright ownership, and holding relationships of works are difficult to form a unified mapping, and risks of repeated authorization and ambiguous ownership always exist.
• Cross-domain compliance. Rules vary greatly across different platforms and jurisdictions, and there is a lack of unified standards for cross-border circulation and rights realization.
"Trustworthy identity is the key to scaling digital assets of artworks, establishing clear ownership rights, and cross-domain compliance," Eugene said, "Without an identity infrastructure, digital assets of artworks are just rootless trees."

How DID Intervenes in the Art Digital Asset Scene
Eugene then introduced the specific approach of the DID Alliance in the field of art digital assets. He defined the role of DID as "a pathway connecting people, works, and systems," with the core logic of establishing a verifiable, controllable, and interoperable digital identity system for artists, institutions, collectors, and platforms, while mapping artwork copyrights, membership rights, licensing, and revenue sharing on-chain to form transferable and governable digital asset expressions.
Technologically, Eugene described a three-layer architecture: the identity mapping layer based on W3C DID/VC standards to achieve trusted mapping of off-chain identities and work rights; the privacy protection layer using zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) to realize "data available but invisible"; and the compliance verification layer through programmable identity contracts to automatically verify permissions rules across different platforms and jurisdictions.
At the application level, he emphasized three core capabilities: first, asset ownership and identity mapping, binding personal DID with real-name information, creation history, and linking work DID with source chain, copyright status, and holding credentials to achieve consistency tracking on and off the chain; second, compliance and permission governance, encoding identity attributes and permission rules into smart contracts to automate access review, transaction limits, and regional restrictions; third, privacy protection and trust minimization, using selective disclosure and secure multi-party computation to protect user sovereignty while reducing compliance costs.

From "On-Chain Assets" to "Operational Assets"
In the latter half of his speech, Eugene shifted from technology to industry development logic. He believes that digital assets of artworks are evolving through three stages: the first stage is on-chain works, focusing on display, issuance, and trading; the second stage is operational works, forming a closed loop around ownership, governance, licensing, and revenue sharing; the third stage is DID becoming a universal global identity protocol for digital art collaboration.
He pointed out that DID provides more than just a compliant entry point for digital assets of artworks; it also offers four operational attributes—verifiable, transferable, governable, and accountable. "Author, work, source chain, and copyright status can be continuously verified; transaction history is immutable; issuance, licensing, trading, and cross-platform collaboration can be realized 24/7; holders, platforms, and institutions can participate in governance around rules and profit sharing; responsible entities are traceable, making legal frameworks and dispute resolution easier to align."
In other words, digital assets of artworks are no longer static digital certificates but dynamic value units that can be flexibly scheduled and collaboratively operated within the global digital economy.

DID Alliance: An Emerging Global Collaboration Network
According to Eugene, the DID Global Digital Identity Alliance is initiated by top global funds and industry organizations, headquartered in Silicon Valley, USA, with regional hubs in Dubai and Kuala Lumpur. Relying on the three core forces of the DID Strategic Development Fund, DID Laboratory, and DID DAO, it aims to build an open digital identity infrastructure.
In terms of standards and compliance, the alliance is deeply aligning with international standards such as eIDAS 2.0, W3C DID, and GDPR, promoting global recognition and compliant circulation of identities. In the scene of digital assets of artworks, the alliance can serve creators, institutions, platforms, and global collectors simultaneously, with the goal of constructing cross-border identity networks covering Asia-Pacific, North America, and the Middle East.

Final Remarks
This special session at the Hong Kong Web3 Carnival advanced the discussion of DID digital identity and digital assetization of artworks to a more concrete level—no longer just debating "whether to put on-chain," but directly addressing "how to establish ownership, ensure compliance, and facilitate circulation" in practice.
As Eugene concluded his speech: "Decentralization does not mean no identity; the essence of decentralization is the return of identity sovereignty. DID is the global passport for artworks entering the digital world."

About the DID Global Digital Identity Alliance
The DID Global Digital Identity Alliance is initiated by top global funds and industry organizations, headquartered in Silicon Valley, USA, with regional hubs in Dubai and Kuala Lumpur. It is dedicated to building a trusted, verifiable, and interoperable global identity layer for Web3. The alliance connects eIDAS 2.0, W3C DID, ERC-3643, and other international standards through its core forces—the DID Strategic Development Fund, DID Laboratory, and DID DAO—to promote cross-chain, cross-domain, and cross-jurisdictional free flow of identities, assets, and systems.