Introduction
A closed-door meeting attended by only a select few may signal the investment direction of the trillion-dollar Real World Assets (RWA) market. Following the success of the inaugural RWA Selection Meeting, Kriteria, a Web3 credit analysis firm, was invited as an independent evaluator to participate in the second closed-door RWA project selection meeting hosted by EXIO Group. Building on the professional depth of the first event, this meeting expanded its focus to diverse sectors such as gold, real estate, and cultural intellectual properties (IPs), reflecting the evolution of RWAs from stable assets to high-growth, innovative ones. A fierce competition among six new asset categories unfolded, presenting investors with an unprecedentedly diversified investment landscape.
The meeting featured a voting session to gauge investors’ interest and preferences for RWA projects, yielding striking results that perfectly captured the nuanced sentiment of the current market. In the “investment conviction” metric, which best reflects genuine investment intent, gold tokens led with an overwhelming 52% advantage, underscoring the strong appeal of traditional safe-haven assets in their digitized form.
However, a dramatic reversal emerged in the “investment interest” ranking: cultural industry revenue rights projects, with expected annualized returns of 15%-20%, surged to the top, emerging as the biggest dark horse of the event. This “say one thing, do another” phenomenon highlights investors’ complex psychology—craving high returns while fearing potential risks.
In contrast, airline mileage tokens and fractional ownership of diamond jewelry, despite their innovative appeal, unexpectedly underperformed in both key metrics. This aligns with an anonymous attendee’s observation: “Investors talk about wanting innovation, but when it comes to putting money down, they prefer tangible, familiar assets.”
This report, based on the meeting’s discussions, analyzes six representative projects and evaluates the voting results to explore the potential boundaries of RWAs and market investment preferences. It aims to provide objective insights for industry stakeholders and promote the innovative application of RWAs within a compliant framework.
Project Analysis
The selection meeting focused on six projects spanning traditional financial assets and emerging consumer assets. Below is a detailed analysis of each project’s underlying structure, compliance mechanisms, and investment value.
- European Real Estate Credit: Institutional-Grade Compliance and Transaction Structure
This project is backed by a portfolio of Spanish real estate loans, over-collateralized by real estate assets. Tokenized bonds compliant with the ERC-3643 standard are issued through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) established in Luxembourg, with the underlying bonds listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. This structure fully aligns with EU and international regulatory frameworks, breaking geographical barriers and providing institutional investors with a secure, compliant, and efficient entry into the European credit market.
Key Advantages: High compliance and liquidity, enhancing RWA penetration in mainstream financial markets.
Risk Considerations: Dependent on real estate market fluctuations, requiring monitoring of collateral ratios.
- Gold Tokens: Programmable Safe-Haven Assets
Each token is 1:1 backed by 1 gram of physical gold stored in a Hong Kong vault under third-party custody, with reserve transparency ensured through on-chain Proof of Reserves (PoR). Built on the ERC-20 standard, these tokens offer DeFi scalability, enabling seamless trading on decentralized exchanges and use in lending protocols, transforming gold from a static store of value into a “programmable asset.”
Key Advantages: Inflation-resistant, credit-risk-resistant, with high liquidity and capital efficiency.
Risk Considerations: Custodian credit risk, necessitating regular PoR audits.
- Machinery Leasing: Tokenization of Future Cash Flows
Backed by receivables from machinery leasing in China, this project offers a 12-month term with a fixed 10% annualized return. The underlying assets have short repayment cycles and a near-100% historical recovery rate, ensuring stable and predictable cash flows. This model standardizes “future cash flow revenue rights,” creating new financing channels for businesses and enabling investors to participate in supply chain finance.
Key Advantages: Highly predictable cash flows, suitable for fixed-income portfolios.
Risk Considerations: Dependent on leasing market stability, requiring assessment of recovery rate fluctuations.
- Cultural Industry Revenue Rights: High-Growth “Alpha” Opportunities
Focused on future revenue rights from anime IPs and virtual idol concerts, this project offers expected annualized returns of 15%-20%. With low correlation to macroeconomic cycles, it provides a unique “Alpha” source. This model breaks barriers to traditional film and entertainment investments, allowing retail investors to participate in high-potential early-stage projects.
Key Advantages: High return potential, expanding RWAs into the consumer sector.
Risk Considerations: Uncertainty in IP valuation, requiring evaluation of cultural market trends.
- Airline Mileage Tokens: Reinventing Trillion-Dollar Loyalty Programs
This innovative project tokenizes airline frequent flyer miles as NFTs, creating exchange pathways with mainstream digital assets like Bitcoin. Users earn NFTs by accumulating miles, which can be redeemed for flights, VIP services, or traded on secondary markets. This transforms loyalty points into liquid, financially viable digital assets, reshaping the multi-trillion-dollar loyalty program industry.
Key Advantages: Enhances user experience and asset liquidity, exploring tokenization of consumer rewards.
Risk Considerations: Cyclical risks in the aviation industry, requiring monitoring of exchange channel stability.
- Fractional Ownership of Diamond Jewelry: Fragmented Investment in High-Value Luxury Goods
This project creates digital twin NFTs for diamonds and jewelry based on the ERC-721 standard, enabling fractional ownership. It lowers investment barriers, allowing investors to hold partial ownership, benefit from value appreciation, and earn cash flows through leasing. Complementary insurance and custody enhance security, making luxury goods accessible for broader asset allocation.
Key Advantages: Fractionalization lowers entry barriers, with strong anti-inflation attributes.
Risk Considerations: Luxury market volatility, requiring verification of digital twin authenticity.
Voting Results
| Poll Results | |||||||||
| Project Name | Interest (Yes %) | Investment Conviction (> $20k %) | Whale Votes (> $1M) | Broad Appeal (Yes Votes / Total) | Investment Pool (Respondents) | Tier 1 ($5k-20k) | Tier 2 ($20k-100k) | Tier 3 ($100k-1M) | Tier 4 (> $1M) |
| Project IP | 69% | 44% | 4 | 59 / 86 | 63 | 35 (56%) | 20 (32%) | 4 (6%) | 4 (6%) |
| Project Debt | 67% | 39% | 3 | 59 / 88 | 72 | 44 (61%) | 21 (29%) | 4 (6%) | 3 (4%) |
| Project DAU | 63% | 52% | 2 | 26 / 41 | 27 | 13 (48%) | 6 (22%) | 6 (22%) | 2 (7%) |
| Project Estate | 59% | 25% | 2 | 50 / 84 | 61 | 46 (75%) | 9 (15%) | 4 (7%) | 2 (3%) |
| Project Air | 56% | 40% | 3 | 54 / 96 | 65 | 39 (60%) | 18 (28%) | 5 (8%) | 3 (5%) |
| Project Luxury | 38% | 31% | 1 | 13 / 34 | 16 | 11 (69%) | 2 (13%) | 2 (13%) | 1 (6%) |
Note: Investment Conviction (>$20k) = the combined percentage of Tier 2 + Tier 3 + Tier 4.
In-Depth Analysis: RWAs Walking on “Two Legs”
The voting results reflect the deeper logic and “bifurcation” phenomenon in the RWA market:
On one end, the “stable faction,” represented by gold and real estate, significantly outperformed assets like airline mileage tokens and fractional diamond jewelry ownership in both “investment interest” and “investment conviction” metrics. In the “investment conviction” metric, which better reflects actual capital allocation intent, gold tokens led with a commanding 52% advantage. These assets lower the cognitive barrier for investors with familiar asset types and provide security through mature regulatory frameworks, laying a foundation of trust and depth for the market.
On the other end, the “innovative faction,” represented by cultural IPs and airline mileage, attracts attention with novel use cases and stimulates imagination with high expected returns, pushing the boundaries of applications and user growth. In terms of “investment interest,” high-return-potential “Alpha” projects like cultural industry revenue rights ranked first.
This “steady yet progressive” development path may be the necessary route for RWAs to transition from niche to mainstream. After all, convincing traditional investors to “put gold on the blockchain” is already challenging, let alone “turning airline miles into NFTs.”
Conclusion and Recommendations
This selection meeting highlights the potential for RWA boundary expansion, from traditional safe-haven assets to emerging cultural consumption. As stability and innovation compete on the same stage, the future of RWAs becomes increasingly clear: it will neither be a mere replication of traditional finance nor a reckless adventure in radical innovation, but a new species seeking the optimal balance between the two.
In this dynamic landscape of stability and innovation, RWAs are gradually emerging as a key engine for enhancing global asset accessibility, ushering investors into a new era of richer asset categories and more flexible investment approaches.
About Kriteria
Kriteria is a professional Web3 credit analysis firm. In the rapidly evolving virtual asset landscape, a reliable and transparent risk assessment framework is the cornerstone of industry development. To this end, Kriteria collaborates with leading financial institutions and industry partners, combining collective expertise with data-driven rigorous research to build unified risk assessment standards and a “consensus rating” system. Our mission is to provide the market with clear, actionable analytical frameworks, fostering trust infrastructure for virtual assets and supporting the industry’s standardization and sustainable growth.
About EXIO Group
EXIO Group is a global leader in bridging traditional finance (Web2) and Web3 ecosystems, delivering innovative, compliant, and secure financial solutions. Headquartered in Hong Kong, the group operates through multiple subsidiaries, including EXIO Limited (a compliant virtual asset trading platform regulated by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, VATP) and EXIO FZCO (currently applying for a VASP license from Dubai’s VARA). EXIO Group’s mission is to empower global users through cutting-edge Web3 financial services, combining regulatory compliance, advanced technology, and deep banking partnerships to serve institutional, high-net-worth, and retail clients.
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