Bank of Taiwan: Promoting RWA Tokenization to Enhance Asset Allocation Flexibility and Transaction Efficiency

Central News Agency, Taipei, May 25: With the rapid growth of blockchain technology and the virtual asset market, the financial sector is actively focusing on the tokenization of Real World Assets (RWA). The Bank of Taiwan announced in a press release today that it continues to promote the tokenization of real assets such as gold to enhance asset allocation flexibility and transaction efficiency. This is not only a technological innovation but also an important opportunity for the synergistic evolution of the financial system and legal framework. Last year, the Bank of Taiwan launched the 'Joint Verification Project for Cross-Bank Application of RWA Tokenization Technology in Precious Metals Business' and completed the final verification, successfully validating the feasibility of 'cross-bank on-chain gold trading' in a simulated environment. To explore the development trends and potential of RWA tokenization, the Bank of Taiwan hosted the 'Precious Metals RWA Tokenization Forum' on May 15, inviting representatives from the financial industry, corporate clients, and relevant practitioners to share insights. Bank of Taiwan Chairperson Ling Chung-yuan stated that in the face of blockchain and digital finance trends, the bank will continue to promote the tokenization of real assets like gold to improve flexibility and efficiency, while balancing risk management and regulatory compliance to ensure steady development of financial innovation. The Bank of Taiwan pointed out that blockchain technology is bringing structural changes to the traditional gold market, breaking through limitations in storage, liquidity, and transaction costs. It transforms gold from a traditional safe-haven asset into a programmable, composable digital base asset, showing high potential in decentralized finance (DeFi), cross-border payments, and inclusive finance. From a practical perspective, the Bank of Taiwan believes that gold RWA tokenization is not just a technical upgrade but will reshape the bank's operational model. With the gradual introduction of on-chain pricing, atomic settlement, and real-time clearing mechanisms, it can effectively reduce cross-institutional reconciliation costs and transaction risks, while improving overall collaboration efficiency and market transparency. The Bank of Taiwan explained that under this framework, the bank's role will shift from a traditional intermediary to a participant and trust provider in on-chain infrastructure. Institutions that can deploy early and capture customer trust will gain a key advantage in future competition. Regarding the legal aspect, the Bank of Taiwan added that the core of RWA tokenization lies in the transformation of the asset transfer mechanism, shifting ownership proof from traditional ledgers to blockchain-based distributed ledgers, bringing a fundamental change to how rights are represented. Therefore, relevant institutional design must carefully clarify requirements for property delivery, the legal status of virtual assets, and the scope of supervision to ensure transaction legality and the authenticity of rights, while balancing market innovation with risk control.