- Buy Crypto
- Markets
Futures- Spot
- Copy Trade
Earn- More
Disruption and Reinvention: 2025 Crypto World Landscape Outlook
Original Title: "Disruption and Reinvention: 2025 Crypto World Landscape Outlook"
Original Author: Zeke, YBB Capital Research
Preface
Starting from the Metaverse boom and ending with the election of the first crypto-friendly president, 2024 is coming to a close. In this year, Crypto experienced an unusually turbulent "bull market," with altcoins underperforming, meme coins dominating the conversation, and ultimately everything flowing back to BTC. Despite some lows and disappointments, Crypto has indeed been moving in a more positive direction. As we approach 2025, there are many areas worth paying attention to. In this article, we will provide a brief outlook for next year based on recent perspectives.
1. About AI
In the current stage, Chain Abstraction Layer projects often pursue conceptual perfection to the point where the technical implementation becomes overly complex, ultimately affecting user interaction. On the other hand, projects implementing an Intent architecture tend to be more complex in their implementation, whether they are based on centralization (such as TG Bot), structured (a combination of on-chain and off-chain preprocessing), or distributed (such as Solver + Executor architecture). These intent-driven projects often suffer from some common pitfalls. For example, users still need a significant understanding of DeFi, the expression of intent must be clear, accurate, and simple, and for complex and vague intents expressed by users, current intent projects often appear powerless, with a limited scope of implementation. Therefore, from the time Paradigm proposed this concept in mid-23 to the present day, so-called intent-centric projects have always been more talk than action, offering little help in guiding new users and lowering the user operation threshold. However, it is clear that, looking at the development path of Ethereum Layer 2, the market demand for both approaches is still urgent.
Let's review the development of Layer 2 over the past few months. Among the leading projects, Layer 2 alliances represented by OP Superchain have been growing rapidly. Zksync's Elastic Chain and Arbitrum Orbit will eventually form their own alliance along this path. These alliances will be able to achieve internal direct communication through solutions such as interoperable clusters, easing the current over-fragmentation of liquidity in the Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem and the lack of interoperability. Competition among dozens of chains will also narrow down to competition among multiple power centers. However, from a broader perspective, as the crypto market continues to improve, Layer 2 projects with new architectures such as Movement and Fuel are also launching their mainnets in competition to attract scarce meme market liquidity. For projects outside the top tier, fragmentation and lack of interoperability continue to worsen, with different architecture-designed virtual machines even facing situations where wallet plugins are not interoperable. Let alone bringing in new users, for the average blockchain user, the entire Layer 2 ecosystem is extremely complex, and the development of non-financial application chains will face significant obstacles in this situation.
In order for Ethereum to attract new users, ecosystem alignment is the biggest prerequisite. If the ecosystem requires users to be half a geek to get started, it will never achieve Mass Adoption. Looking at the counter-trend development of Solana and Ton in the current year, it is evident that strategies focusing on lowering the user threshold and providing a more unified, Web2-like user experience have played a significant role in ecosystem growth. To be more direct, what these two ecosystems have done besides promotion is to reduce the difficulty of asset issuance and make on-chain usage more seamless. Therefore, for Ethereum, a holistic solution with a focus on user experience is necessary. However, given the Ethereum core developers' consistent open attitude, it is naturally impossible to align the entire Layer 2 ecosystem through force.
I believe the solution that can address this issue first is an AI browser agent. Early on, when ChatGPT emerged, many envisioned that AI would revolutionize app interaction by allowing seamless interaction across multiple apps, forming a comprehensive super app. Taking the common scenario of travel as an example, after receiving a user's travel requirements, AI can automatically complete tasks such as ticket booking, customizing travel routes, arranging meals and schedules based on the user's input. If this AI also has long-term memory capabilities, it can suggest more suitable solutions based on this memory.
Today, Google is about to launch an AI browser agent powered by Gemini, Project Mariner. In the example demonstrated by Google Lab Director Jaclyn Konzelmann, after installing the AI agent extension on the Chrome browser, a chat window will pop up on the right side of the browser. Users can instruct the agent to perform tasks like "create a shopping cart from the grocery store based on this list." Subsequently, the AI agent will automatically navigate to a grocery platform, add items to the cart, proceed to the checkout interface, and upon confirmation, the user will proceed to checkout manually (the agent does not have payment authorization). Similar products will also be launched by OpenAI next month.
It is worth mentioning that although Google's Project Mariner is currently only available to selected testers, I have already experienced similar agents developed by some projects in Crypto for ordinary users. From several hours of trial use, the agent's accuracy in implementing complex, ambiguous intents can reach about sixty to seventy percent (the cursor operation speed is relatively slow), and it can autonomously perform various tasks such as token transactions within various public chains' Dexes and even cross-asset transfers from Ethereum to Layer 2. Throughout this process, all I needed to do was inform it of my intent and enter my wallet password.
Of course, this base still needs to call the API of a centralized model, so what collision can Crypto have with it? I believe that besides becoming a better-intentioned solution, the AI browser agent will also drive the emergence of AI wallets, decentralized computing power, and decentralized data projects next year.
Think about a simple question: Why did it take until today to achieve such a beautiful concept as the Agent during the rapid development of AI in recent years? In fact, looking back at OpenAI's development process, it is not difficult to see that the development of pure language models has always been faster than other models such as image generation. This is because the internet itself is a vast corpus of text material that can provide endless text data for training. What limits the development of language models more is computing power and energy. Agents, on the other hand, require a large amount of human annotation and feedback, and the reasoning process is expensive. Crypto inherently has the ability to incentivize and obtain labor. In this economic system, upper-layer users can provide a large amount of annotation data and feedback to obtain tokens in a decentralized manner, while the lower layer can integrate decentralized computing power and data projects. After training, it can also be integrated with wallets and DeFi projects through SDKs to achieve a truly meaningful AI wallet and ultimately form a closed loop. Ideas about other AI agents can also be derived from this, as any AI agent applicable to Web3 will require computing power, annotation, and feedback to "grow."
2. Stablecoin
Stablecoin has always been a battleground and a high-threshold track in the Crypto world. Regarding its application value, it has gained relatively widespread recognition even outside the industry. For example, this year, several giants in the traditional financial sector have also entered the stablecoin market, including PayPal's PYUSD, BlackRock's collaboration with Ethena on USDb, and VanEck's AUSD (serving Argentina, Southeast Asia, and other regions).
As Tether and Circle continue to deepen their dominance in this track, new entrants in stablecoin issuance have gradually diversified into two categories. First, the issuers of fiat-backed stablecoins have begun to focus on emerging markets in South America and specific use cases, while algorithmic stablecoins are currently generally turning to stablecoins with low-risk financial products as underlying assets, such as Ethena and Usual mentioned in our previous article. Looking at the trends, next year will see more Delta-neutral stablecoins competing with the short position liquidity in CEX, and hedge assets will also gradually expand from BTC and ETH to higher-risk, lower-liquidity public chain tokens to compete in the remaining underserved markets. As for stablecoins like Usual, which are backed by medium-term to short-term US Treasury bonds, I believe that there will be more innovation in protocol tokens and yield mechanisms. There is no better choice than medium-term to short-term government bonds in terms of RWA asset types. However, compared to the limited liquidity in CEX, the competition for such stablecoins will be smaller, and there will be more room for growth.
Overall, the development of stablecoins is gradually moving towards pursuing a more stable underlying asset and decentralized governance. However, what I hope for more is to see some completely decentralized and non-overcollateralized stablecoin protocols emerge next year.
Three, Payments
With the compliance and accelerated adoption of stablecoins in various countries, the payment track downstream of stablecoins will also become a new focus of competition. Heterogeneous blockchains such as Solana and Move, with high TPS and low Gas fees, will become the main infrastructure for payment applications. Traditional payments are already an extremely mature and saturated market. What transformation can blockchain provide? Firstly, two relatively simple and commonly mentioned points are optimization of cross-border payments, eliminating the need for pre-funding, making cross-border remittances faster, cheaper, and easier, addressing the tens of billions of dollars in pre-funding required in traditional systems. Secondly, serving emerging markets. As I have mentioned in previous articles, in regions such as Asia, Africa, and Latin America, the application value of stablecoins has already been demonstrated. The strong financial inclusion allows residents of third-world countries to effectively cope with currency hyperinflation caused by government instability. Through stablecoins, they can also participate in some global financial activities and subscribe to cutting-edge global virtual services.
Lily Liu, the Solana Foundation Manager, proposed the concept of "PayFi" at the 7th EthCC Conference, providing more imagination for the integration of blockchain and payments. This concept involves two core aspects. First is real-time settlement, which is T+0 settlement. PayFi can achieve same-day settlement, and even settle multiple times a day. The delays and complexities involved in the traditional financial system in this whole process will be eliminated, significantly improving the speed of fund circulation. Secondly is Buy Now, Pay Never (BNPL), for example, a user deposits $50 into a lending product and buys a $5 coffee. Once the accrued interest reaches $5, it will be used to pay for the coffee, and the funds will be unlocked and returned to the user's account.
Many other ideas can be extended from this, such as the financing needs of emerging projects can be more securely and transparently entered and exited in the blockchain through PayFi, currency exchange during travel will no longer require various physical financial institutions, and the freedom to control payment and receipt times (delayed receipt to earn interest, early payment to receive a discount). The revenue models will also become more diverse. In addition to earning interest by depositing stablecoins into lending products, I personally believe that different types of stablecoins should also be allowed for free conversion. In the future, with the emergence of various stablecoins, users can choose the most suitable stablecoin type based on their individual risk tolerance at any time, thereby simultaneously obtaining stablecoin protocol tokens and higher stablecoin interest. For DeFi, if this payment system becomes mainstream, its growth potential will be unimaginably huge.
Four. Dex
In the first section, we have already mentioned the issue of fragmentation and lack of interoperability of Layer2. This development path actually faces another problem, which is the oversupply of block space, where Infra's development far surpasses Dapp's development. This issue will lead to the natural elimination of a large number of long-tail chains within a few years, which is also a headache for Ethereum, whose DA pricing mistakes fail to receive Layer2 positive feedback.
Looking back at this round of countercyclical growth of public chains, it mainly relies on its strong community, ecosystem, marketing, and promotion advantages, and provides these advantages to asset issuance platforms to achieve rapid overall TVL growth. Therefore, not every Layer2 can replicate this attention economy, and the lack of killer applications remains a realistic issue to be faced next year. Following the trend, in addition to what we mentioned earlier, the future demand for AI Agent may be a way out. In the short term, other noticeable trends include on-chain order book Dex, privacy, payment-related stacks, decision-making tools, etc.
Personally, I am more optimistic about on-chain order book Dex becoming the mainstream of the next generation Dex. After all, looking at the development of AMM, the complexity of its technical path is increasing exponentially, but the efficiency gains are becoming more and more limited, as we have also mentioned in articles related to Uni. However, for Layer2, the limitations of performance and Gas are still evident, and the improvement of matching algorithms and the innovation of Gas solutions will be key challenges.
Five. Asset Issuance Remains the Main Theme
From 23 years ago to today, from inscriptions to today's AI Meme platforms, the way of providing asset issuance has been a hot topic in the past year. If we extend this timeframe a bit, in fact, from the ICO era to the present, asset issuance can be considered the sole theme of the crypto world. It's just that the outer packaging and the threshold for issuance are changing. From a positive perspective, users' gaming demands have driven the advanced development of Infra and DeFi. As this technology becomes well-known and accepted, blockchain has stepped into the mainstream and integrated into reality. From a negative perspective, this game has become more pure and absurd, and the decreasing difficulty of asset issuance means that this dark forest is even more dangerous. Now, with just a click, accompanied by an image and a few words, a grand zero-sum game begins. Why not steer it back to a more positive side? Drive progress in the industry through this game.
For example, some of the current AI Memes are now transitioning to practical Agent development, rather than the early versions of nonsensical AI Agents. The recent trend of DeSci can also be called the "research version of ICO," although the core is currently driven by memes, in the long run, by combining various advantages of blockchain, DeSci can make traditional research more transparent, easily disseminated, financed, and exchanged. However, whether it can ultimately land and how it evolves still need to be questioned.
In fact, similar to the DeSci concept, I also mentioned in an article about GameFi how to effectively promote the development of indie games through blockchain, addressing issues such as indie game funding and personnel shortages. The issue with blockchain funding lies in the low asset issuance threshold, lack of restrictions, and excessive fundraising capacity (due to the extremely low barrier to entry on the chain). It is crucial for us to consider how to use rules to restrict the use of funds, forcing project teams to continuously create truly valuable assets.
Let gamers game and let builders build is the premise for the continuous development of blockchain. Next year, we may see more versions of "ICO," but what I hope for is to advance towards the next "DeFi Summer" in this gaming feast.
This article is contributed content and does not represent the views of BlockBeats.
You may also like
Token Cannot Compound, Where Is the Real Investment Opportunity?
February 6th Market Key Intelligence, How Much Did You Miss?
China's Central Bank and Eight Other Departments' Latest Regulatory Focus: Key Attention to RWA Tokenized Asset Risk
Foreword: Today, the People's Bank of China's website published the "Notice of the People's Bank of China, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security, State Administration for Market Regulation, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission, State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Further Preventing and Dealing with Risks Related to Virtual Currency and Others (Yinfa [2026] No. 42)", the latest regulatory requirements from the eight departments including the central bank, which are basically consistent with the regulatory requirements of recent years. The main focus of the regulation is on speculative activities such as virtual currency trading, exchanges, ICOs, overseas platform services, and this time, regulatory oversight of RWA has been added, explicitly prohibiting RWA tokenization, stablecoins (especially those pegged to the RMB). The following is the full text:
To the people's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps:
Recently, there have been speculative activities related to virtual currency and Real-World Assets (RWA) tokenization, disrupting the economic and financial order and jeopardizing the property security of the people. In order to further prevent and address the risks related to virtual currency and Real-World Assets tokenization, effectively safeguard national security and social stability, in accordance with the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the People's Bank of China," "Law of the People's Republic of China on Commercial Banks," "Securities Law of the People's Republic of China," "Law of the People's Republic of China on Securities Investment Funds," "Law of the People's Republic of China on Futures and Derivatives," "Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China," "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Renminbi," "Regulations on Prevention and Disposal of Illegal Fundraising," "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Foreign Exchange Administration," "Telecommunications Regulations of the People's Republic of China," and other provisions, after reaching consensus with the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and with the approval of the State Council, the relevant matters are notified as follows:
(I) Virtual currency does not possess the legal status equivalent to fiat currency. Virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, Ether, Tether, etc., have the main characteristics of being issued by non-monetary authorities, using encryption technology and distributed ledger or similar technology, existing in digital form, etc. They do not have legal tender status, should not and cannot be circulated and used as currency in the market.
The business activities related to virtual currency are classified as illegal financial activities. The exchange of fiat currency and virtual currency within the territory, exchange of virtual currencies, acting as a central counterparty in buying and selling virtual currencies, providing information intermediary and pricing services for virtual currency transactions, token issuance financing, and trading of virtual currency-related financial products, etc., fall under illegal financial activities, such as suspected illegal issuance of token vouchers, unauthorized public issuance of securities, illegal operation of securities and futures business, illegal fundraising, etc., are strictly prohibited across the board and resolutely banned in accordance with the law. Overseas entities and individuals are not allowed to provide virtual currency-related services to domestic entities in any form.
A stablecoin pegged to a fiat currency indirectly fulfills some functions of the fiat currency in circulation. Without the consent of relevant authorities in accordance with the law and regulations, any domestic or foreign entity or individual is not allowed to issue a RMB-pegged stablecoin overseas.
（II）Tokenization of Real-World Assets refers to the use of encryption technology and distributed ledger or similar technologies to transform ownership rights, income rights, etc., of assets into tokens (tokens) or other interests or bond certificates with token (token) characteristics, and carry out issuance and trading activities.
Engaging in the tokenization of real-world assets domestically, as well as providing related intermediary, information technology services, etc., which are suspected of illegal issuance of token vouchers, unauthorized public offering of securities, illegal operation of securities and futures business, illegal fundraising, and other illegal financial activities, shall be prohibited; except for relevant business activities carried out with the approval of the competent authorities in accordance with the law and regulations and relying on specific financial infrastructures. Overseas entities and individuals are not allowed to illegally provide services related to the tokenization of real-world assets to domestic entities in any form.
(III) Inter-agency Coordination. The People's Bank of China, together with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, and other departments, will improve the work mechanism, strengthen coordination with the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, coordinate efforts, and overall guide regions to carry out risk prevention and disposal of virtual currency-related illegal financial activities.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission, together with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the People's Bank of China, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, and other departments, will improve the work mechanism, strengthen coordination with the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, coordinate efforts, and overall guide regions to carry out risk prevention and disposal of illegal financial activities related to the tokenization of real-world assets.
(IV) Strengthening Local Implementation. The people's governments at the provincial level are overall responsible for the prevention and disposal of risks related to virtual currencies and the tokenization of real-world assets in their respective administrative regions. The specific leading department is the local financial regulatory department, with participation from branches and dispatched institutions of the State Council's financial regulatory department, telecommunications regulators, public security, market supervision, and other departments, in coordination with cyberspace departments, courts, and procuratorates, to improve the normalization of the work mechanism, effectively connect with the relevant work mechanisms of central departments, form a cooperative and coordinated working pattern between central and local governments, effectively prevent and properly handle risks related to virtual currencies and the tokenization of real-world assets, and maintain economic and financial order and social stability.
(5) Enhanced Risk Monitoring. The People's Bank of China, China Securities Regulatory Commission, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security, State Administration of Foreign Exchange, Cyberspace Administration of China, and other departments continue to improve monitoring techniques and system support, enhance cross-departmental data analysis and sharing, establish sound information sharing and cross-validation mechanisms, promptly grasp the risk situation of activities related to virtual currency and real-world asset tokenization. Local governments at all levels give full play to the role of local monitoring and early warning mechanisms. Local financial regulatory authorities, together with branches and agencies of the State Council's financial regulatory authorities, as well as departments of cyberspace and public security, ensure effective connection between online monitoring, offline investigation, and fund tracking, efficiently and accurately identify activities related to virtual currency and real-world asset tokenization, promptly share risk information, improve early warning information dissemination, verification, and rapid response mechanisms.
(6) Strengthened Oversight of Financial Institutions, Intermediaries, and Technology Service Providers. Financial institutions (including non-bank payment institutions) are prohibited from providing account opening, fund transfer, and clearing services for virtual currency-related business activities, issuing and selling financial products related to virtual currency, including virtual currency and related financial products in the scope of collateral, conducting insurance business related to virtual currency, or including virtual currency in the scope of insurance liability. Financial institutions (including non-bank payment institutions) are prohibited from providing custody, clearing, and settlement services for unauthorized real-world asset tokenization-related business and related financial products. Relevant intermediary institutions and information technology service providers are prohibited from providing intermediary, technical, or other services for unauthorized real-world asset tokenization-related businesses and related financial products.
(7) Enhanced Management of Internet Information Content and Access. Internet enterprises are prohibited from providing online business venues, commercial displays, marketing, advertising, or paid traffic diversion services for virtual currency and real-world asset tokenization-related business activities. Upon discovering clues of illegal activities, they should promptly report to relevant departments and provide technical support and assistance for related investigations and inquiries. Based on the clues transferred by the financial regulatory authorities, the cyberspace administration, telecommunications authorities, and public security departments should promptly close and deal with websites, mobile applications (including mini-programs), and public accounts engaged in virtual currency and real-world asset tokenization-related business activities in accordance with the law.
(8) Strengthened Entity Registration and Advertisement Management. Market supervision departments strengthen entity registration and management, and enterprise and individual business registrations must not contain terms such as "virtual currency," "virtual asset," "cryptocurrency," "crypto asset," "stablecoin," "real-world asset tokenization," or "RWA" in their names or business scopes. Market supervision departments, together with financial regulatory authorities, legally enhance the supervision of advertisements related to virtual currency and real-world asset tokenization, promptly investigating and handling relevant illegal advertisements.
（IX） Continued Rectification of Virtual Currency Mining Activities. The National Development and Reform Commission, together with relevant departments, strictly controls virtual currency mining activities, continuously promotes the rectification of virtual currency mining activities. The people's governments of various provinces take overall responsibility for the rectification of "mining" within their respective administrative regions. In accordance with the requirements of the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments in the "Notice on the Rectification of Virtual Currency Mining Activities" (NDRC Energy-saving Building [2021] No. 1283) and the provisions of the "Guidance Catalog for Industrial Structure Adjustment (2024 Edition)," a comprehensive review, investigation, and closure of existing virtual currency mining projects are conducted, new mining projects are strictly prohibited, and mining machine production enterprises are strictly prohibited from providing mining machine sales and other services within the country.
（X） Severe Crackdown on Related Illegal Financial Activities. Upon discovering clues to illegal financial activities related to virtual currency and the tokenization of real-world assets, local financial regulatory authorities, branches of the State Council's financial regulatory authorities, and other relevant departments promptly investigate, determine, and properly handle the issues in accordance with the law, and seriously hold the relevant entities and individuals legally responsible. Those suspected of crimes are transferred to the judicial authorities for processing according to the law.
（XI） Severe Crackdown on Related Illegal and Criminal Activities. The Ministry of Public Security, the People's Bank of China, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, as well as judicial and procuratorial organs, in accordance with their respective responsibilities, rigorously crack down on illegal and criminal activities related to virtual currency, the tokenization of real-world assets, such as fraud, money laundering, illegal business operations, pyramid schemes, illegal fundraising, and other illegal and criminal activities carried out under the guise of virtual currency, the tokenization of real-world assets, etc.
（XII） Strengthen Industry Self-discipline. Relevant industry associations should enhance membership management and policy advocacy, based on their own responsibilities, advocate and urge member units to resist illegal financial activities related to virtual currency and the tokenization of real-world assets. Member units that violate regulatory policies and industry self-discipline rules are to be disciplined in accordance with relevant self-regulatory management regulations. By leveraging various industry infrastructure, conduct risk monitoring related to virtual currency, the tokenization of real-world assets, and promptly transfer issue clues to relevant departments.
（XIII） Without the approval of relevant departments in accordance with the law and regulations, domestic entities and foreign entities controlled by them may not issue virtual currency overseas.
（XIV） Domestic entities engaging directly or indirectly in overseas external debt-based tokenization of real-world assets, or conducting asset securitization activities abroad based on domestic ownership rights, income rights, etc. (hereinafter referred to as domestic equity), should be strictly regulated in accordance with the principles of "same business, same risk, same rules." The National Development and Reform Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, and other relevant departments regulate it according to their respective responsibilities. For other forms of overseas real-world asset tokenization activities based on domestic equity by domestic entities, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, together with relevant departments, supervise according to their division of responsibilities. Without the consent and filing of relevant departments, no unit or individual may engage in the above-mentioned business.
(15) Overseas subsidiaries and branches of domestic financial institutions providing Real World Asset Tokenization-related services overseas shall do so legally and prudently. They shall have professional personnel and systems in place to effectively mitigate business risks, strictly implement customer onboarding, suitability management, anti-money laundering requirements, and incorporate them into the domestic financial institutions' compliance and risk management system. Intermediaries and information technology service providers offering Real World Asset Tokenization services abroad based on domestic equity or conducting Real World Asset Tokenization business in the form of overseas debt for domestic entities directly or indirectly venturing abroad must strictly comply with relevant laws and regulations. They should establish and improve relevant compliance and internal control systems in accordance with relevant normative requirements, strengthen business and risk control, and report the business developments to the relevant regulatory authorities for approval or filing.
(16) Strengthen organizational leadership and overall coordination. All departments and regions should attach great importance to the prevention of risks related to virtual currencies and Real World Asset Tokenization, strengthen organizational leadership, clarify work responsibilities, form a long-term effective working mechanism with centralized coordination, local implementation, and shared responsibilities, maintain high pressure, dynamically monitor risks, effectively prevent and mitigate risks in an orderly and efficient manner, legally protect the property security of the people, and make every effort to maintain economic and financial order and social stability.
(17) Widely carry out publicity and education. All departments, regions, and industry associations should make full use of various media and other communication channels to disseminate information through legal and policy interpretation, analysis of typical cases, and education on investment risks, etc. They should promote the illegality and harm of virtual currencies and Real World Asset Tokenization-related businesses and their manifestations, fully alert to potential risks and hidden dangers, and enhance public awareness and identification capabilities for risk prevention.
(18) Engaging in illegal financial activities related to virtual currencies and Real World Asset Tokenization in violation of this notice, as well as providing services for virtual currencies and Real World Asset Tokenization-related businesses, shall be punished in accordance with relevant regulations. If it constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be pursued according to the law. For domestic entities and individuals who knowingly or should have known that overseas entities illegally provided virtual currency or Real World Asset Tokenization-related services to domestic entities and still assisted them, relevant responsibilities shall be pursued according to the law. If it constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be pursued according to the law.
(19) If any unit or individual invests in virtual currencies, Real World Asset Tokens, and related financial products against public order and good customs, the relevant civil legal actions shall be invalid, and any resulting losses shall be borne by them. If there are suspicions of disrupting financial order and jeopardizing financial security, the relevant departments shall deal with them according to the law.
This notice shall enter into force upon the date of its issuance. The People's Bank of China and ten other departments' "Notice on Further Preventing and Dealing with the Risks of Virtual Currency Trading Speculation" (Yinfa [2021] No. 237) is hereby repealed.
Former Partner's Perspective on Multicoin: Kyle's Exit, But the Game He Left Behind Just Getting Started
Why Bitcoin Is Falling Now: The Real Reasons Behind BTC's Crash & WEEX's Smart Profit Playbook
Bitcoin's ongoing crash explained: Discover the 5 hidden triggers behind BTC's plunge & how WEEX's Auto Earn and Trade to Earn strategies help traders profit from crypto market volatility.
Wall Street's Hottest Trades See Exodus
Vitalik Discusses Ethereum Scaling Path, Circle Announces Partnership with Polymarket, What's the Overseas Crypto Community Talking About Today?
Believing in the Capital Markets - The Essence and Core Value of Cryptocurrency
Polymarket's 'Weatherman': Predict Temperature, Win Million-Dollar Payout
$15K+ Profits: The 4 AI Trading Secrets WEEX Hackathon Prelim Winners Used to Dominate Volatile Crypto Markets
How WEEX Hackathon's top AI trading strategies made $15K+ in crypto markets: 4 proven rules for ETH/BTC trading, market structure analysis, and risk management in volatile conditions.
A nearly 20% one-day plunge, how long has it been since you last saw a $60,000 Bitcoin?
Raoul Pal: I've seen every single panic, and they are never the end.
Key Market Information Discrepancy on February 6th - A Must-Read! | Alpha Morning Report
2026 Crypto Industry's First Snowfall
The Harsh Reality Behind the $26 Billion Crypto Liquidation: Liquidity Is Killing the Market
Why Is Gold, US Stocks, Bitcoin All Falling?
Key Market Intelligence for February 5th, how much did you miss out on?
Wintermute: By 2026, crypto had gradually become the settlement layer of the Internet economy
Token Cannot Compound, Where Is the Real Investment Opportunity?
February 6th Market Key Intelligence, How Much Did You Miss?
China's Central Bank and Eight Other Departments' Latest Regulatory Focus: Key Attention to RWA Tokenized Asset Risk
Foreword: Today, the People's Bank of China's website published the "Notice of the People's Bank of China, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security, State Administration for Market Regulation, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission, State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Further Preventing and Dealing with Risks Related to Virtual Currency and Others (Yinfa [2026] No. 42)", the latest regulatory requirements from the eight departments including the central bank, which are basically consistent with the regulatory requirements of recent years. The main focus of the regulation is on speculative activities such as virtual currency trading, exchanges, ICOs, overseas platform services, and this time, regulatory oversight of RWA has been added, explicitly prohibiting RWA tokenization, stablecoins (especially those pegged to the RMB). The following is the full text:
To the people's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps:
Recently, there have been speculative activities related to virtual currency and Real-World Assets (RWA) tokenization, disrupting the economic and financial order and jeopardizing the property security of the people. In order to further prevent and address the risks related to virtual currency and Real-World Assets tokenization, effectively safeguard national security and social stability, in accordance with the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the People's Bank of China," "Law of the People's Republic of China on Commercial Banks," "Securities Law of the People's Republic of China," "Law of the People's Republic of China on Securities Investment Funds," "Law of the People's Republic of China on Futures and Derivatives," "Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China," "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Renminbi," "Regulations on Prevention and Disposal of Illegal Fundraising," "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Foreign Exchange Administration," "Telecommunications Regulations of the People's Republic of China," and other provisions, after reaching consensus with the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and with the approval of the State Council, the relevant matters are notified as follows:
(I) Virtual currency does not possess the legal status equivalent to fiat currency. Virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, Ether, Tether, etc., have the main characteristics of being issued by non-monetary authorities, using encryption technology and distributed ledger or similar technology, existing in digital form, etc. They do not have legal tender status, should not and cannot be circulated and used as currency in the market.
The business activities related to virtual currency are classified as illegal financial activities. The exchange of fiat currency and virtual currency within the territory, exchange of virtual currencies, acting as a central counterparty in buying and selling virtual currencies, providing information intermediary and pricing services for virtual currency transactions, token issuance financing, and trading of virtual currency-related financial products, etc., fall under illegal financial activities, such as suspected illegal issuance of token vouchers, unauthorized public issuance of securities, illegal operation of securities and futures business, illegal fundraising, etc., are strictly prohibited across the board and resolutely banned in accordance with the law. Overseas entities and individuals are not allowed to provide virtual currency-related services to domestic entities in any form.
A stablecoin pegged to a fiat currency indirectly fulfills some functions of the fiat currency in circulation. Without the consent of relevant authorities in accordance with the law and regulations, any domestic or foreign entity or individual is not allowed to issue a RMB-pegged stablecoin overseas.
（II）Tokenization of Real-World Assets refers to the use of encryption technology and distributed ledger or similar technologies to transform ownership rights, income rights, etc., of assets into tokens (tokens) or other interests or bond certificates with token (token) characteristics, and carry out issuance and trading activities.
Engaging in the tokenization of real-world assets domestically, as well as providing related intermediary, information technology services, etc., which are suspected of illegal issuance of token vouchers, unauthorized public offering of securities, illegal operation of securities and futures business, illegal fundraising, and other illegal financial activities, shall be prohibited; except for relevant business activities carried out with the approval of the competent authorities in accordance with the law and regulations and relying on specific financial infrastructures. Overseas entities and individuals are not allowed to illegally provide services related to the tokenization of real-world assets to domestic entities in any form.
(III) Inter-agency Coordination. The People's Bank of China, together with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, and other departments, will improve the work mechanism, strengthen coordination with the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, coordinate efforts, and overall guide regions to carry out risk prevention and disposal of virtual currency-related illegal financial activities.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission, together with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the People's Bank of China, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, and other departments, will improve the work mechanism, strengthen coordination with the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, coordinate efforts, and overall guide regions to carry out risk prevention and disposal of illegal financial activities related to the tokenization of real-world assets.
(IV) Strengthening Local Implementation. The people's governments at the provincial level are overall responsible for the prevention and disposal of risks related to virtual currencies and the tokenization of real-world assets in their respective administrative regions. The specific leading department is the local financial regulatory department, with participation from branches and dispatched institutions of the State Council's financial regulatory department, telecommunications regulators, public security, market supervision, and other departments, in coordination with cyberspace departments, courts, and procuratorates, to improve the normalization of the work mechanism, effectively connect with the relevant work mechanisms of central departments, form a cooperative and coordinated working pattern between central and local governments, effectively prevent and properly handle risks related to virtual currencies and the tokenization of real-world assets, and maintain economic and financial order and social stability.
(5) Enhanced Risk Monitoring. The People's Bank of China, China Securities Regulatory Commission, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security, State Administration of Foreign Exchange, Cyberspace Administration of China, and other departments continue to improve monitoring techniques and system support, enhance cross-departmental data analysis and sharing, establish sound information sharing and cross-validation mechanisms, promptly grasp the risk situation of activities related to virtual currency and real-world asset tokenization. Local governments at all levels give full play to the role of local monitoring and early warning mechanisms. Local financial regulatory authorities, together with branches and agencies of the State Council's financial regulatory authorities, as well as departments of cyberspace and public security, ensure effective connection between online monitoring, offline investigation, and fund tracking, efficiently and accurately identify activities related to virtual currency and real-world asset tokenization, promptly share risk information, improve early warning information dissemination, verification, and rapid response mechanisms.
(6) Strengthened Oversight of Financial Institutions, Intermediaries, and Technology Service Providers. Financial institutions (including non-bank payment institutions) are prohibited from providing account opening, fund transfer, and clearing services for virtual currency-related business activities, issuing and selling financial products related to virtual currency, including virtual currency and related financial products in the scope of collateral, conducting insurance business related to virtual currency, or including virtual currency in the scope of insurance liability. Financial institutions (including non-bank payment institutions) are prohibited from providing custody, clearing, and settlement services for unauthorized real-world asset tokenization-related business and related financial products. Relevant intermediary institutions and information technology service providers are prohibited from providing intermediary, technical, or other services for unauthorized real-world asset tokenization-related businesses and related financial products.
(7) Enhanced Management of Internet Information Content and Access. Internet enterprises are prohibited from providing online business venues, commercial displays, marketing, advertising, or paid traffic diversion services for virtual currency and real-world asset tokenization-related business activities. Upon discovering clues of illegal activities, they should promptly report to relevant departments and provide technical support and assistance for related investigations and inquiries. Based on the clues transferred by the financial regulatory authorities, the cyberspace administration, telecommunications authorities, and public security departments should promptly close and deal with websites, mobile applications (including mini-programs), and public accounts engaged in virtual currency and real-world asset tokenization-related business activities in accordance with the law.
(8) Strengthened Entity Registration and Advertisement Management. Market supervision departments strengthen entity registration and management, and enterprise and individual business registrations must not contain terms such as "virtual currency," "virtual asset," "cryptocurrency," "crypto asset," "stablecoin," "real-world asset tokenization," or "RWA" in their names or business scopes. Market supervision departments, together with financial regulatory authorities, legally enhance the supervision of advertisements related to virtual currency and real-world asset tokenization, promptly investigating and handling relevant illegal advertisements.
（IX） Continued Rectification of Virtual Currency Mining Activities. The National Development and Reform Commission, together with relevant departments, strictly controls virtual currency mining activities, continuously promotes the rectification of virtual currency mining activities. The people's governments of various provinces take overall responsibility for the rectification of "mining" within their respective administrative regions. In accordance with the requirements of the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments in the "Notice on the Rectification of Virtual Currency Mining Activities" (NDRC Energy-saving Building [2021] No. 1283) and the provisions of the "Guidance Catalog for Industrial Structure Adjustment (2024 Edition)," a comprehensive review, investigation, and closure of existing virtual currency mining projects are conducted, new mining projects are strictly prohibited, and mining machine production enterprises are strictly prohibited from providing mining machine sales and other services within the country.
（X） Severe Crackdown on Related Illegal Financial Activities. Upon discovering clues to illegal financial activities related to virtual currency and the tokenization of real-world assets, local financial regulatory authorities, branches of the State Council's financial regulatory authorities, and other relevant departments promptly investigate, determine, and properly handle the issues in accordance with the law, and seriously hold the relevant entities and individuals legally responsible. Those suspected of crimes are transferred to the judicial authorities for processing according to the law.
（XI） Severe Crackdown on Related Illegal and Criminal Activities. The Ministry of Public Security, the People's Bank of China, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, as well as judicial and procuratorial organs, in accordance with their respective responsibilities, rigorously crack down on illegal and criminal activities related to virtual currency, the tokenization of real-world assets, such as fraud, money laundering, illegal business operations, pyramid schemes, illegal fundraising, and other illegal and criminal activities carried out under the guise of virtual currency, the tokenization of real-world assets, etc.
（XII） Strengthen Industry Self-discipline. Relevant industry associations should enhance membership management and policy advocacy, based on their own responsibilities, advocate and urge member units to resist illegal financial activities related to virtual currency and the tokenization of real-world assets. Member units that violate regulatory policies and industry self-discipline rules are to be disciplined in accordance with relevant self-regulatory management regulations. By leveraging various industry infrastructure, conduct risk monitoring related to virtual currency, the tokenization of real-world assets, and promptly transfer issue clues to relevant departments.
（XIII） Without the approval of relevant departments in accordance with the law and regulations, domestic entities and foreign entities controlled by them may not issue virtual currency overseas.
（XIV） Domestic entities engaging directly or indirectly in overseas external debt-based tokenization of real-world assets, or conducting asset securitization activities abroad based on domestic ownership rights, income rights, etc. (hereinafter referred to as domestic equity), should be strictly regulated in accordance with the principles of "same business, same risk, same rules." The National Development and Reform Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, and other relevant departments regulate it according to their respective responsibilities. For other forms of overseas real-world asset tokenization activities based on domestic equity by domestic entities, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, together with relevant departments, supervise according to their division of responsibilities. Without the consent and filing of relevant departments, no unit or individual may engage in the above-mentioned business.
(15) Overseas subsidiaries and branches of domestic financial institutions providing Real World Asset Tokenization-related services overseas shall do so legally and prudently. They shall have professional personnel and systems in place to effectively mitigate business risks, strictly implement customer onboarding, suitability management, anti-money laundering requirements, and incorporate them into the domestic financial institutions' compliance and risk management system. Intermediaries and information technology service providers offering Real World Asset Tokenization services abroad based on domestic equity or conducting Real World Asset Tokenization business in the form of overseas debt for domestic entities directly or indirectly venturing abroad must strictly comply with relevant laws and regulations. They should establish and improve relevant compliance and internal control systems in accordance with relevant normative requirements, strengthen business and risk control, and report the business developments to the relevant regulatory authorities for approval or filing.
(16) Strengthen organizational leadership and overall coordination. All departments and regions should attach great importance to the prevention of risks related to virtual currencies and Real World Asset Tokenization, strengthen organizational leadership, clarify work responsibilities, form a long-term effective working mechanism with centralized coordination, local implementation, and shared responsibilities, maintain high pressure, dynamically monitor risks, effectively prevent and mitigate risks in an orderly and efficient manner, legally protect the property security of the people, and make every effort to maintain economic and financial order and social stability.
(17) Widely carry out publicity and education. All departments, regions, and industry associations should make full use of various media and other communication channels to disseminate information through legal and policy interpretation, analysis of typical cases, and education on investment risks, etc. They should promote the illegality and harm of virtual currencies and Real World Asset Tokenization-related businesses and their manifestations, fully alert to potential risks and hidden dangers, and enhance public awareness and identification capabilities for risk prevention.
(18) Engaging in illegal financial activities related to virtual currencies and Real World Asset Tokenization in violation of this notice, as well as providing services for virtual currencies and Real World Asset Tokenization-related businesses, shall be punished in accordance with relevant regulations. If it constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be pursued according to the law. For domestic entities and individuals who knowingly or should have known that overseas entities illegally provided virtual currency or Real World Asset Tokenization-related services to domestic entities and still assisted them, relevant responsibilities shall be pursued according to the law. If it constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be pursued according to the law.
(19) If any unit or individual invests in virtual currencies, Real World Asset Tokens, and related financial products against public order and good customs, the relevant civil legal actions shall be invalid, and any resulting losses shall be borne by them. If there are suspicions of disrupting financial order and jeopardizing financial security, the relevant departments shall deal with them according to the law.
This notice shall enter into force upon the date of its issuance. The People's Bank of China and ten other departments' "Notice on Further Preventing and Dealing with the Risks of Virtual Currency Trading Speculation" (Yinfa [2021] No. 237) is hereby repealed.
Former Partner's Perspective on Multicoin: Kyle's Exit, But the Game He Left Behind Just Getting Started
Why Bitcoin Is Falling Now: The Real Reasons Behind BTC's Crash & WEEX's Smart Profit Playbook
Bitcoin's ongoing crash explained: Discover the 5 hidden triggers behind BTC's plunge & how WEEX's Auto Earn and Trade to Earn strategies help traders profit from crypto market volatility.
App