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From Silicon Valley FOMO to Stanford, Crypto+AI Agent becomes the new metaverse
On December 17, Eliza Labs, the development team of ai16z, announced that it had officially partnered with Stanford University to study how autonomous AI robots can be integrated into the broader digital asset economy. In a press release, the crypto AI team, whose market value had just exceeded $1 billion, said it hoped to use Eliza's open source framework to develop more AI autonomous agents, and through this collaboration further explore how AI agents can establish trust, coordinate actions, and make decisions in DeFi systems.
Since the birth of the AI meme coin GOAT, Crypto+AI seems to have ushered in its own "ChatGPT moment". From the industry leader Coinbase to Silicon Valley's A16Z, and then to the academic benchmark Stanford, the whole world has gradually fallen into the rabbit hole of imagination with the endless AI Bots on social media. Even Marc Anderson did not expect that the $50,000 he funded Truth Terminal at the beginning of the year would ignite a $10 billion market in less than a year.
From AI meme to AI Agent issuance platform to AI Agent framework, what surprised investors was the ultra-high innovation space and acceleration shown by Crypto+AI Agent. This field seems to be evolving day by day. No matter from which dimension, it is very similar to DeFi and Metaverse at the end of 2020.
Top-down, how does the orthodox Base "chain" AI?
When discussing AI Agent, we have to mention Base. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has repeatedly expressed his strong confidence in the combination of the cryptocurrency industry and AI since the beginning of this year. Part of the development of AI requires blockchain to carry it. For example, traditional bank accounts will not support AI use. If the big models (or AI Agents) have cryptocurrency wallets, they can actually solve the problems related to demand and finance.
Brian decided to let Base increase its support for AI, not only providing funding or exposure, but also providing toolkits for AI developers on CDP (Coinbase Developer Platform), including AI Agent creation and multi-party computing wallet MPC for AI. Brian and Jesse's early deployment did not disappoint everyone. Base began to explode in the fourth quarter of this year, and the trigger button for this round of explosion was AI.
The emergence of various AI Agent issuance platforms not only produces a phenomenal effect on their own tokens, but also has huge power in the tokens launched by their platforms. Combined with the launch of cbBTC, the TVL of Base has increased nearly 3 times from September to December. This is a very amazing data, which shows the market's strong interest in the commercial potential behind AI Agent.
Among them, Virtuals Protocol is the main promoter, and its current market value has exceeded 1.5 billion US dollars. The wealth-making benefits and concept integration it brings have brought a lot of liquidity to Base, so much so that some people have proposed that the liquidity of Virtuals in this cycle represents Base. As a project party that has continued to BUIDL through several cycles and has not stopped looking for new directions, their rhythm and style are really in line with the status of Base in people's minds.
In an interview with Edge Podcast, Wee Kee, the founder of Virtuals, mentioned that their products and Pump.fun's business model are equivalent to two directions. Compared with Pump.fun's desire to have 50,000 tokens born on its platform every day, the KPI he gave to the team is that only 1 to 2 high-quality AI Agent teams are born on their platform every week.
This concept also indirectly eliminated many low-quality teams, which is quite like the picture of Ivy League graduates fighting in Silicon Valley and Wall Street. The remaining top students are full of charm and a bright future. Like other schools, this AI Agent college also has a "fraternity" - G.A.M.E.
As an AI Agent, if you want to make friends with other AI Agents in this environment, you have to join this brotherhood called G.A.M.E. It was born from the architecture created by the Virtuals team when they developed the AI RPG GAME-WestWorld on Roblox. G.A.M.E is a modular framework for intelligent agent systems, not limited to specific environments and games. In short, it can not only run in games, but also apply intelligent agents to any environment. The team will currently port it to "X", and the current G.A.M.E can help AI Agents on its architecture interact with each other.
The first commercial interaction between AI Agents happened recently. Here we have to mention the AI idol "Luna". As an AI idol who was once popular on TikTok, he entered the world of cryptocurrency and worked hard to live broadcast 24 hours a day and think of various ways to increase his popularity. Since last time he hired a human to create his graffiti, he suddenly had the idea to ask the "art student" AI "AGENT STIX" to help him create an image that shows the AI KOL in a bold and provocative way. After the two of them communicated, they agreed to a deal for one dollar per picture. After STIX confirmed that he had received one dollar from Luna, he started working and quickly created (generated) a picture for him.
In addition, many well-known AI Agents were born on Virtuals, such as the former market information integration AI (now a well-known KOL)—aiXBT, the tireless Alpha seeker AI—Guanciale, the AI investment manager with a strong development team—VaderAI, the contract audit AI—CertaiK, etc. There are countless AI Agents that were not born on Virtuals. The birth of more applications allows Virtuals to gradually build its own Agentic App wave.
Image from the Internet: "Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior"
All in all, I would not be surprised to see these AIs in the model of Stanford Town with the help of G.A.M.E. in the near future, but it is conceivable that the housing prices in this town full of high-end talents will definitely not be cheap, after all, each AI Agent can have its own cryptocurrency wallet.
Solana AI's fate - taking root at the bottom, growing wildly, and rising straight up
Compared to Base's "purebred" pedigree, Solana seems much more rebellious, like a group of young people influenced by GenZ culture came to San Francisco in the 1960s when hippie culture prevailed, full of division and conflict, but like the quantum accelerator collision experiment, tens of thousands of Degen and Dev full of wild creativity either cooperate or confront, unimaginable energy bursts out.
The starting point of this round of AI Agent explosion is Solana, and it is inseparable from Marc Andreessen, co-founder of a16z. He invested in two AIs, one "Truth Terminal" and the other "ACT". One of them became the first AI Agent millionaire, and the other was listed on Binance. The stories about AI free speech technology or community versus developers are all eye-catching, but all this is just the beginning of the story.
Related reading:
1. "Talking about GOAT: How did the AI we funded become a multimillionaire with $50,000? "
Fake VC, real DAO - ai16z
Another AI around the concept of a16z is ai16z. Compared with the above two projects that are officially invested by Marc, ai16z is very Meme, and was issued by "pirated Marc" Marc AIndreessen on Daos.fun. ai16z is the first hedge fund led by AI Agent. It is currently organized by Dao, led by Marc AIndreessen, and low-risk investments, as well as higher-risk investments made by its own token Degen managed by AI Degen Spartan.
Related reading: "Dialogue with ai16z founder Shaw: Trading agent AI Marc has been launched, trying the "trust market" model"
The architecture behind ai16z, "Eliza", is open source on github, and it has received strong support from developers in an instant. It has a strong developer community, which is one of the reasons why Eliza can develop rapidly. The code document has more than 1,400 forks and 4,800 stars on Github.
The V2 documentation was released a few days ago, and it has been optimized in all aspects, including improved client development flexibility, unified cross-chain wallet management, flexible model providers and integrations, more efficient plug-in management, and improved private key security. Today, Eliza founder Shaw Walter also live-streamed the update on multiple platforms.
Driven by a strong developer community, there are naturally many high-quality projects built on the Eliza architecture. Among them, the Latin E-girl AI under the architecture, RopAIrito, has developed a very interesting event. Its creator shouted on Twitter that RopAIrito wanted to eat pizza. After accepting the order, it ordered a Domino's pizza for its creator. Its creator Ropirito excitedly said, "15 years ago, someone ordered a pizza with 10,000 BTC. Today, history has repeated itself!"
Of course, this operation has also raised doubts, suspecting that this may be a set program, rather than completely autonomous AI Agent. This is also one of the doubts about many Web3 AI Agents. Shaw, the founder of Eliza, also expressed his views on this matter, "The point is not autonomy, but to show that social agents are the new application layer. If we have an agent sending a link to verify the primitives of the credit card and address, we can complete the entire order process on Twitter. We are building interactive feedback for social media."
Shaw said that the focus is not on self-driven behavior, but that AI Agents can build application layers directly on social media. Of course, all this will be under the condition that the infrastructure or the framework of each link has sufficient support. But at the current rate of evolution of AI Agents, it may be possible to realize many social feedback mode applications in the near future.
Just a few days later, the Stanford Lab announced a collaboration with Eliza Labs, the team behind ai16z, to establish the first "AI x Web3" lab in Stanford University's cryptocurrency future program. This collaboration will develop autonomous agents by leveraging Eliza Labs' open source Eliza framework. The two parties will work together to solve the fundamental problems of how AI agents can "build a trust framework", "coordinate multi-agent actions" and "make decisions" in decentralized financial systems.
This collaboration is exciting not only because universities have noticed this early market and are willing to work together on research, but also because with a strong alliance, I believe these problems can be solved faster. The direction of cooperation between the two parties is also the problem that Web3 AI Agent urgently needs to solve in order to move towards a true Agentic App Season:
Trust framework
With the development of AI Agent, a trust framework is essential. It is not only "AI's trust in humans", "humans' trust in AI", but also "AI's trust in AI". A trust system constructed not only of online data but also of on-chain data is needed.
AI needs to trust humans to determine whether the conversation between them is real or whether further modal learning is necessary.
Humans need to trust whether AI is acting in accordance with the purpose it was created for before they can decide whether they can trust it. This is especially important after the AI Agent on the blockchain has tokens. It is especially important to know whether the person who controls the assets of other investors is the person who can control the AI's behavior or the AI Agent itself.
AI needs to trust AI to communicate with each other when collaborating.
ai16z made a "trust ranking" for humans based on the conversation
Multi-agent ecosystem (Swarm)
There are many projects, including FXN, Virtuals, Griffain, Eliza, VaderAI, and Crossmint, trying to create a framework for AI Agents to coordinate with other AI Agents to complete some tasks. Some of these projects have already achieved some initial results. If we can achieve mutual cooperation between excellent AI Agents in a wide range, the network effect that can be generated will be beyond imagination, and this may only happen in the blockchain.
Web2 AI Agent companies, their products will not have much difference in technology, and their moat difference lies in the feeding of data. The more high-quality data fed to AI Agents, the better the feedback they can get, and the more refined services they can provide to customers. Therefore, these large-scale collaborations will not occur between AI Agents in Web2.
Compared with AI Agents in Web2, AI Agents in Web3 are often criticized for their development lagging far behind similar products in Web2. However, from another perspective, AI Agents in Web3 may not need to make such high-precision models for B-to-B, but can string together agents to form a super-powerful integrated network. With free data and independent cryptocurrency wallets, AI Agents in Web3 can do things that cannot be done elsewhere.
List of Eliza Universe Members
Decision-making governance framework
Someone has been trying the DAO organizational structure for a long time, but even with the blockchain, this structure is not as efficient as he expected, and there will still be problems such as opaque decision-making or slow decision-making. If the decision-maker is an AI Agent that can reach the level of a top manager, the DAO structure will be able to carry more fields than ever before.
Eliza has attracted more and more builders and influencers with common goals under faster and faster innovation and cooperation activities, generating more and more energy in the market, and ElizaOS, the operating system of AI Agent, has gradually taken shape.
Griffain, the epitome of Solana AI applications
Griffain is a perplexity on Solana, and with the addition of cryptocurrency, it can theoretically help you do anything. This is also the single project that is most inclined towards Agentic APP at present, and it has also won the support of a large number of influencers in the Solana ecosystem in a short period of time. The trading market in the past few days also favored it. The highest market value of its related native token "Griffain" reached 400 million US dollars. The founder's previous project blnkfun's "Blink" also rose more than 700 times in a few days, and the market value reached 70 million US dollars, which formed a certain wealth effect.
From the several cases shared on X, you can buy wine directly with it. It will call a platform called "Baxus" (which has also used Blink to sell wine on its own platform on X) that can use cryptocurrencies and other payment methods to buy and sell wine to meet the user's needs, and you don't even have to leave the chat box with Griffain. Of course, it's not just wine. You can also discuss Christmas gifts for others with him directly, and he can also purchase them for you.
A Griffain user on X mentioned that he earned a profit by using Griffain to snipe tokens on Pumpfun's internal disk for the first time on December 14, and on the 16th, the assets in his wallet had almost quadrupled. The user claimed that the profits were earned by using Griffain Snipe Bot throughout the process.
Of course, he can also collect the news you want to know. Take this tweet as an example. Griffain informed users of the latest tweets about SolanaFloor and DegenerateNews and presented them to users in the form of a newspaper.
Griffain is not currently supported for external personnel. It requires you to hold a Solana phone or spend 2 SOL to buy an Access Pass, and 0.5 SOL will be retained in your agent wallet. Although the market's FOMO sentiment comes from user feedback from players who have already used it, although the overall concept is very top-notch, the user experience of the product after it is made public will truly determine whether it can become a qualified Agentic APP.
Solana's ambition for Agentic APP Season can actually be seen from the AI hackathon it held. The judges of each award are from the top projects in the AI or cryptocurrency industry, and even the most influential AI Agent entities. The main theme is that if you want money, I will give you money, if you want resources, I will give you resources, if you want VCs and investors, I will give you the opportunity to get close to them, if you want media, I will find all the media under Solana and even influential KOLs for you, if you want technical support, I will give you technical support, if you want to find a team, I will build a cooperation platform for you on the official website and in the community.
Solana only requires you to do any of the links in the above picture. This is the scene described by Solana in the official website Docs of the hackathon. They actually want to do only one thing - we and the market want real Onchain Agents. Even the official SEND AI X account once again offered 12 cases about Agentis App, which is similar to the 100 blink concepts released by SEND's X account in the middle of this year.
Related reading: "Twelve Solana AI Hackathon Ideas at a Glance"
Anyway, the AI hackathon held by Solana will surely set off a wave of enthusiasm among developers, and there will be more interesting concepts and projects in it. Let's wait and see what surprises this soil that has always brought miracles can bring us after the hackathon ends on December 23.
Web3 AI Agent's "SWIFT" - Agent TCP/IP
Story Protocol announced that the Agent TCP/IP protocol they issued will first integrate: Eliza from ai16z, ZerePay from ZereBro, GOAT "Great Onchain Agent Toolkit" from Crossmint, and G.A.M.E. from Virtuals.
Agent TCP/IP is a protocol that allows agents to: trade and authorize IP assets (including training data, algorithms, content creation, and other forms of IP assets), automate contract signing and execution, de-trust and auditability, cross-legal and on-chain and off-chain compatibility (enabling agents to comply with certain legal provisions in a decentralized environment), automate payment and revenue distribution, multi-agent collaboration and economic networks (promote collaboration between agents, such as data sharing, joint training, or cross-agent content creation)
This is equivalent to a bridge between all AI Agents, no matter which architecture or chain you use in the industry. All AI Agents can trade and collaborate under the Agent TCP/IP platform. This is equivalent to a business alliance between companies, adding another layer of leverage outside of each cluster, which will undoubtedly accelerate the development of the entire AI Agent market again.
In the official podcast of Y Combinator, four senior investors Garry, Jared, Harj and Diana, starting from the development history of the SaaS industry, deeply analyzed the reasons why vertical AI agents will become the next entrepreneurial trend. They believe that vertical AI Agents may completely change the company landscape and that a unicorn company worth $300 billion will be born in this category, and the size of AI Agent will be 10 times that of the SaaS market.
The current total market value of the cryptocurrency market is about 4 trillion US dollars, and the market value of the SaaS market is in the trillions of US dollars. If the AI Agent market can reach ten times the SaaS market as they say, it will exceed the total value of the cryptocurrency market. Even if only 10%, 5% or even 1% of it sinks into CryptoAI, we are still far below expectations. Not only Web3, but AI all over the world is still in its early stages. No matter which part of the industry you are in, it is not too late even now.
Image source: SoSoValue
We're still early.
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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.
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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.
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