The message conveyed by the 2026 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival was markedly different from the industry discussions of the past few years.
If the market was still repeatedly verifying whether 'Web3 has real value,' this time, from the speeches of Paul Chan, Keith Choy, and Fan Wenzhong, it can be seen that the focus of the discussion has fundamentally changed: Web3 is no longer a technical proposition that needs to be proven but has begun to enter an institutionalized and structured implementation phase.
More accurately, what Hong Kong is attempting to build is not a 'Web3 industry cluster' but an operating system for the next-generation financial system.
From 'Asset Digitization' to 'Financial Restructuring'
In his speech, Hong Kong's Financial Secretary, Paul Chan, repeatedly emphasized the significance of 'tokenization' and clearly pointed out that the types of assets currently included in this process have expanded from early crypto assets to currency and bonds, real estate, and future income rights.
The key to this change lies not in the alteration of technical forms but in the shift in the underlying logic of the financial structure.
In the traditional financial system, the liquidity, divisibility, and participation threshold of assets are often determined by centralized intermediary institutions; under the tokenization framework, these constraints are recoded as on-chain rules, allowing assets to be split, circulated, and settled and distributed through programmable methods.
This signifies a more fundamental change: finance is no longer about 'who owns the assets' but 'how assets flow.'
In the past, finance was about a few people allocating assets; in the new framework, assets begin to flow to a broader range of participants with lower friction.
Therefore, the essence of tokenization is not 'on-chain' but rather: the shift in the financial resource allocation mechanism from 'institution-led' to 'rule-driven.'
This shift provides the foundational conditions for subsequent larger-scale financial innovation.
The Introduction of AI: From Efficiency Tool to Economic Agent
If tokenization reshapes 'assets,' then the introduction of artificial intelligence begins to reshape 'participants.'
The 'DAE (Decentralized Agentic Economy)' framework proposed by Fan Wenzhong, Executive Committee Member of the China Financial Society and former Chairman of Beijing Financial Holding Group, provides a forward-looking explanatory path: in the future economic system, AI will no longer be just a tool to assist decision-making but an economic agent with independent action capabilities.
This judgment is based on three key premises:
- AI Agents possess continuously evolving decision-making capabilities and can complete strategy selection in complex environments;
- Blockchain provides them with identity, accounts, and a verifiable execution environment;
- Programmable currency and smart contracts enable them to directly participate in value exchange.
Under this framework, a fundamental change will occur in the financial system: trading behavior will no longer be entirely driven by humans but will gradually shift to a hybrid model of 'machine participation, rule constraints.'
This not only means an improvement in transaction efficiency but also a reconstruction of market operation logic. For example, in areas such as high-frequency trading, liquidity management, and cross-market coordination, the combination of AI Agents and on-chain infrastructure may significantly compress the original intermediary links.
This is also why Paul Chan emphasized: 'This interest (in AI Agents) and the intersection of Web3 and artificial intelligence will change the 'rules of the game'.'
The Key Institutional Level: From 'Exploration' to 'Executable'
The clarity of the technical path does not automatically mean the system can operate. The key to its implementation lies in institutional arrangements.
On this point, the regulatory layer represented by Keith Choy, Executive Director of Intermediaries at the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, sent a relatively clear signal: Hong Kong is advancing the digital asset system from 'policy statements' to an 'execution framework.'
Over the past year, Hong Kong has completed three key transitions:
- Systematic expansion of the regulatory scope—exchanges, custody, staking, and derivatives are gradually incorporated into a unified system, providing a foundation for institutional entry;
- Gradual liberalization at the product level—from tokenized funds to money market instruments, regulation is forming replicable product paths;
- Clarification of infrastructure direction—especially stablecoins, which have begun to enter the core policy vision.
The result of these three points叠加 is: Web3 in Hong Kong has moved from 'discussable' to 'executable.'
Stability and Continuity: The Differentiated Advantage of the Hong Kong Path
Globally, attitudes towards Web3 vary significantly across regions.
The United States frequently adjusts its policies, creating uncertainty in institutional expectations; Europe, on the other hand, focuses on strict regulation, to some extent compressing the space for innovation.
In contrast, Hong Kong has chosen a different path:
- Adhering to the principle of 'same risk, same regulation'
- Gradually releasing innovation space through sandbox mechanisms
- Maintaining continuity in policy rhythm
The 'stability and transparency' emphasized by Duncan Chiu, Member of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, in his speech, while seemingly principled statements on the surface, actually constitute an important institutional advantage in the current global regulatory environment: when uncertainty becomes the norm, stability itself is a scarce resource.
This is particularly crucial for long-term capital and institutional participants.
From Industry Competition to System Competition
Integrating the above dimensions, what Hong Kong is promoting is not a single technology or industry but a kind of systemic construction:
- The asset digitization path represented by RWA;
- The settlement network centered on stablecoins;
- The reconstruction of economic agents driven by AI Agents.
These three main lines are gradually coupling on the same infrastructure, ultimately pointing not to who is doing Web3, but to who can define the operating methods of the next-generation financial system.
In this sense, Hong Kong's role is shifting from a participant to a rule-maker.
When assets, rules, and participants change simultaneously, the financial system often enters a phase of accelerated restructuring.
The current question may no longer be whether Web3 has long-term value, but how the new power structure will be redistributed in this round of systemic restructuring.
*This content is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice. The market carries risks, and investment requires caution.
