Event Review | Stablecoins and RWA Cross-Border Innovation Practices, Shanghai Seminar Discusses New Financial Ecosystem

Blockchain technology has become the core driving force for the digital transformation of the financial industry, demonstrating enormous potential in application scenarios such as cross-border payments and financial innovation. In particular, stablecoins and RWA (Real World Assets) as key areas for the implementation of blockchain technology have attracted widespread attention from the global market. To further promote industry communication and deeply explore the opportunities and challenges brought by the rapid development of stablecoins and RWAs. On the afternoon of August 22, the "Stablecoins and RWA Driven by Blockchain: Exploring Cross-border Trade and Financial Innovation Practices" event was successfully held in Shanghai, hosted by the Shanghai Financial Information Industry Association and the Shanghai Distributed Consensus Technology Association, co-organized by PANews and Mankun Law Firm, with support from the Mobile Payment Network and the Blockchain Technology Application Alliance.

Opening Speech

The seminar was hosted by Zang Qin, Deputy Secretary-General of the Shanghai Financial Information Industry Association, focusing on the exploration and practice of stablecoins and RWA in areas such as cross-border trade and financial compliance. It attracted over a hundred practitioners from banks, brokerages, law firms, asset management institutions, financial technology, and startup companies to jointly discuss the implementation paths and future development of stablecoins and RWA.

Wu Jun, the Secretary-General of the Shanghai Financial Information Industry Association, delivered the opening speech on behalf of the organizers, pointing out that stablecoins are not a completely new concept, but their payment attributes show significant advantages in cross-border trade, characterized by efficiency and low cost. Compared to traditional financial systems, stablecoins can achieve near-instant settlement and extremely low transaction fees, potentially making them a very promising payment tool in international trade. However, he also emphasized that innovation must be promoted within a strict regulatory framework and compliance requirements to ensure transparency, allowing participants to jointly advance the stable development of digital finance based on a full understanding of the risks.

Share Review

PANews Senior Reporter - Wang Shengyu Senior reporter Wang Shengyu from PANews deeply analyzed the "2025 Global Stablecoin Industry Development Report" during the report interpretation session, pointing out that stablecoins have become one of the most critical infrastructures connecting traditional finance with the crypto market, and are changing the global financial landscape. The speech comprehensively analyzed the stablecoin industry, combining on-chain transaction data, policy developments, and industry evolution paths, systematically sorting out the development history, market structure, application scenarios, global regulation, development potential, and potential risks in six dimensions.

Mankun Law Firm - Mao Jiehao In the first keynote speech, Senior Lawyer Mao Jiehao from Mankun Law Firm analyzed the core logic and compliance path of RWA tokenization from a legal compliance perspective. He pointed out that "the core of RWA lies in the dual attributes of 'digitalization + programmability', both of which are indispensable," and took BlackRock's BUIDL fund as an example to detail its compliance framework and on-chain circulation mechanism, emphasizing that "whitelist mechanism, redemption process, and real-time valuation" are the first explorations of compliant tokenized funds. He believes that the future development of RWA will rely more on stablecoins as underlying liquidity tools, and Hong Kong's stablecoin licensing system will provide a clear compliance framework for the field.

Co-founder and COO of Conflux - Zhang Yuanjie With the rise of stablecoins and RWA, the infrastructure layer for related applications and development has also begun to flourish. Zhang Yuanjie, co-founder and COO of Conflux, shared the role of domestic public chains in the globalization of stablecoins and RWA from the perspective of public chains, emphasizing the key position of the Asia-Pacific region, especially the Hong Kong and mainland markets, in the RWA ecosystem. He also mentioned that the current market drivers for RWA mainly come from the wealth management needs of stablecoin holders, rather than traditional financial institutions. It is a bottom-up process of penetration from the crypto market to traditional finance.

Zheng Lijiang, Research Manager at Shanghai Wanxiang Blockchain Co., Ltd. The last speaker of the thematic sharing, Zheng Lijiang, research manager of Shanghai Wanxiang Blockchain Co., Ltd., approached the topic from the perspective of monetary theory, pointing out that stablecoins are not currency, but "quasi-currency"; their essence is digital certificates issued by the private sector based on reserves such as government bonds. He further analyzed the differences in stablecoin policies between the United States and Hong Kong, noting that Hong Kong currently emphasizes KYC and anti-money laundering rather than encouraging DeFi nesting.

Guest AMA session

The first topic of the roundtable discussion is "Exploration of Stablecoin Applications in Cross-Border Trade Payments", hosted by senior lawyer Mao Jianhao from Mankun Law Firm. Guests invited to discuss include Erin Du, VP of Zentek, Robert Feng, Deputy Director of Global Institutional Cooperation at KunKUN, Xu Feng, founder of Coshine, and Derek Wan, BD head of Cobo Payments. Zentek VP Erin Du pointed out that there are pain points in cross-border payments such as slow bank reviews, long settlement periods, and high fees, especially since the financial infrastructure in Southeast Asia is still underdeveloped. Robert Feng, the Deputy Director of Global Institutional Cooperation at KUN, added that the political and financial environments vary greatly between different countries, and that Latin America and Africa are more likely to accept stablecoins due to their weak financial systems. Coshine's founder Xu Feng shared his experience in connecting the Visa card issuing system for overseas payment institutions, believing that stablecoins have entered the practical stage in the To B scenario. Derek Wan, the BD head of Cobo Pay, emphasized that security is the key to the implementation of stablecoin payments from the perspective of wallets and custody, and proposed a one-stop solution of "full custody" and "MPC custody" that offers flexibility advantages for cross-border payment companies. The guests unanimously believe that stablecoins have moved from "proof of concept" to "scalable trials" in cross-border payments, but compliance, security, and the participation of financial institutions remain the main challenges.

The second roundtable discussion focused on the topic of "market dynamics and application potential of stablecoins and RWAs," hosted by Jae, a senior reporter from PANews. Guests participating in the discussion included Zhang Yuanjie, Co-Founder & COO of Conflux, Li Rongbin, Deputy Director of Institutional Business at GF Securities Shanghai Branch, Siya, Head of Marketing at HashKey Group, and Cheng Yuan, AML Product Expert at CertiK. Conflux co-founder and COO Zhang Yuanjie pointed out that the core driving force behind RWA adoption is the financial management needs of stablecoin holders, and the integration of DeFi protocols through a dual return model of "underlying asset returns + token incentives" greatly enhances its attractiveness. Li Rongbin, the deputy director of institutional business at GF Securities Shanghai Branch, believes that the enthusiasm of listed companies for RWA partly stems from "market value management". However, in the long term, it still needs to return to the quality and liquidity of the assets themselves. Siya, the head of market at HashKey Group, stated that 2025 is the "Year of RWA Narrative," driven by factors such as improved regulatory clarity, mature technological infrastructure, and the entry of institutions, which will collectively propel the market to explode. CertiK anti-money laundering product expert Cheng Yuan emphasized from the perspective of compliance and security that RWA projects need to overcome compliance differences across multiple countries and monitor the risks of smart contracts. He suggested that companies carefully consider costs and security. The guests believe that while RWA has advantages such as "democratized asset access" and "global liquidity," it still faces bottlenecks such as high compliance costs, reliance on the European and American ecosystems for distribution channels, and a scarcity of asset managers.