TL;DR:
- Hainan’s financial regulator warned the public about entities promoting themselves as RWA exchanges without provincial authorization.
- The People’s Bank of China and seven agencies issued a joint notice in February formally incorporating real-world asset tokenization into the national regulatory framework.
- China bans RWA tokenization on its territory and requires strict oversight for any offshore activity involving Chinese interests.
The financial regulator of the Chinese province of Hainan issued a public warning against entities that promoted themselves as “Hainan International Data Asset Exchange“, “Hainan Data Exchange” or similar names, claiming they could legally operate RWA businesses —real-world assets— and RDA —real data assets—. The provincial authority clarified that none of those entities holds official approval and that their operations could constitute illegal financial activity posing a risk to public assets.
The regulator states that any trading platform in the province requires authorization from the provincial government. Companies may not use terms such as “exchange” or “trading center” without express authorization, nor carry out related operations without the corresponding regulatory backing.
The Warning That Came from Above
On February 6, the People’s Bank of China and seven other government agencies published a joint notice formally incorporating RWA tokenization into the national regulatory framework. The document defined RWA tokenization as the use of cryptography and distributed ledger technology to convert property rights, income rights or other interests in assets into tokens or similar certificates intended for issuance and trading. It also noted that related speculative activity had disrupted financial order and put public assets at risk.
State media and market analysis summarized the policy in clear terms: strict prohibition on national territory, rigorous regulation for offshore operations. Any RWA tokenization activity within China is banned, while operations abroad involving Chinese interests must meet supervision and approval requirements.
RWA in China: A High-Risk Zone
Hainan is not introducing a new standalone prohibition. Its scope is more precise: it reinforces pre-existing rules on unauthorized trading platforms and aligns with the national stance established in February. The local measures target specific entities that used exchange branding without official backing and promoted RWA and RDA services to the market without holding the required authorizations.
Any platform claiming to operate an approved RWA exchange in Hainan without government authorization should be approached with caution. Real-world asset tokenization remains a high-risk regulatory zone in China, both for traders and for those participating in such platforms.
