Today I came across this article by Lawyer Liu, and it really resonated with me. Considering the recent wave of announcements about Chinese internet brokers being unable to open accounts domestically, as well as Hong Kong halting RWA-related activities, it’s clear that policies around cryptocurrency remain highly sensitive. Previously, including myself, many of us held onto a bit of wishful thinking, believing Hong Kong might be a positive starting point. Although for various reasons, direct involvement in cryptocurrency investments isn’t possible domestically, Hong Kong might have been a window of opportunity—especially with the approval of BTC and ETH spot ETFs, the issuance of licenses for compliant exchanges, stablecoin legislation, and the initial enthusiasm for RWA. But looking at it now, we were overthinking it. Not only is cryptocurrency still that “man-eating tiger,” but even opening accounts with overseas brokers has become a major hurdle. At its core, this is still about currency regulation. Once you understand this, it makes sense: within the local network, you can play however you want—the meat stays in the pot. But as soon as it involves going overseas, the difficulty of control naturally increases. While I’ve always felt the demand for tokenized stocks is relatively limited, it’s true that with more regulation, this could still meet the investment needs of some people—especially those who find it inconvenient to open accounts abroad. By the way, let me give a shoutout to my sponsor. Bitget has a tokenized stock section where you can trade directly using USDT—it’s pretty convenient. They also support contracts (trade responsibly). For those who have this need, it’s a decent option, especially since it’s centralized and has a relatively good reputation, so the risks are somewhat lower.