<div id="readability-page-1"><div><p>The message conveyed by the 2026 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival is significantly different from the industry discussions of the past few years. If the market was previously still repeatedly testing whether &#34;Web3 has real value,&#34; then this time, judging from the speeches of Paul Chan, Ip Chi-hang, and Fan Man-chung, the focus of the discussion has fundamentally changed: Web3 is no longer a technical proposition that needs to be proven, but is beginning to enter a phase of institutionalization and structured implementation. More precisely, what Hong Kong is trying to build is not a &#34;Web3 industry cluster,&#34; but an operating system for the next generation of financial systems. From “Asset Digitization” to “Financial Restructuring” Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan repeatedly emphasized the significance of “tokenization” in his speech, clearly pointing out that the types of assets currently included in this process have expanded from early crypto assets to currencies and bonds, real estate, and future income rights. The key to this change lies not in the technological form, but in the shift in the underlying logic of the financial structure. In the traditional financial system, the liquidity, divisibility, and participation barriers of assets are often determined by centralized intermediaries; however, under the tokenization framework, these constraints are recoded into on-chain rules, allowing assets to be split, circulated, and cleared and distributed programmatically. This signifies a more fundamental change: finance is no longer about &#34;who owns assets,&#34; but rather &#34;how assets flow.&#34; In the past, finance involved a minority allocating assets; under the new framework, assets begin to flow to a wider range of participants with less friction. Therefore, the essence of tokenization is not simply &#34;on-chain,&#34; but rather a shift in the financial resource allocation mechanism from &#34;institution-driven&#34; to &#34;rule-driven.&#34; This shift provides the foundation for larger-scale financial innovation in the future. The Introduction of AI: From Efficiency Tool to Economic Agent If tokenization reshapes &#34;assets,&#34; then the introduction of artificial intelligence begins to reshape &#34;participants.&#34; The &#34;DAE (Decentralized Agentic Economy)&#34; framework proposed by Fan Wenzhong, a member of the Executive Committee of the China Finance Society and former chairman of Beijing Financial Holdings Group, offers a forward-looking explanation: in the future economic system, AI will no longer be merely a tool to assist decision-making, but rather an economic agent with independent action capabilities. This judgment is based on three key premises: AI agents possess continuously evolving decision-making capabilities, enabling them to make strategy choices in complex environments; blockchain provides them with identity, accounts, and a verifiable execution environment; and programmable currency and smart contracts enable them to directly participate in value exchange. Within this framework, the financial system will undergo a fundamental change: trading behavior will no longer be entirely driven by humans, but will gradually shift to a hybrid model of &#34;machine participation and rule constraints.&#34; This not only means improved trading efficiency, but also a restructuring of market operating logic. For example, in areas such as high-frequency trading, liquidity management, and cross-market collaboration, the combination of AI agents and on-chain infrastructure may significantly reduce the original intermediary links. This is why Paul Chan emphasized: &#34;This interest (AI agents) and the intersection of Web3 and artificial intelligence will change the 'rules of the game.'&#34; The key at the institutional level: from &#34;exploration&#34; to &#34;executability&#34; A clear technological path does not automatically mean that the system can operate. The key to its successful implementation lies in the institutional arrangements. In this regard, the regulatory authorities, represented by Ip Chi-hang, Executive Director of the Intermediaries Division of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, have given a relatively clear signal: Hong Kong is moving the digital asset system from &#34;policy statement&#34; to &#34;implementation framework.&#34; Over the past year, Hong Kong has completed three key leaps: Systematic expansion of regulatory scope—exchanges, custody, staking, and derivatives are gradually being 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 a replicable product path; Clarification of infrastructure direction—especially stablecoins, which are beginning to enter the core policy focus. The combined result of these three points is that Web3 in Hong Kong has moved from &#34;discussable&#34; to &#34;executable.&#34; Stability and Continuity: The Differentiated Advantages of the Hong Kong Path Globally, attitudes towards Web3 vary significantly across different regions. The United States has frequently adjusted its policies, leading to uncertainty in institutional expectations; Europe, on the other hand, primarily adopts strict regulation, which to some extent restricts innovation. In contrast, Hong Kong has chosen a different path: Adhering to the principle of &#34;same risk, same regulation,&#34; it gradually releases space for innovation through a sandbox mechanism, while maintaining continuity in policy pace. The &#34;stability and transparency&#34; emphasized by Hong Kong Legislative Council member Chiu Tat-kan in his speech, while seemingly a principled statement, actually constitutes a significant institutional advantage in the current global regulatory environment: When uncertainty becomes the norm, stability itself becomes a scarce resource. This point is particularly crucial for long-term capital and institutional participants. From Industry Competition to System Competition In summary, Hong Kong is not advancing a single technology or industry, but rather a systemic construction: Asset digitization pathways represented by RWA; a settlement network centered on stablecoins; and a restructuring of economic entities driven by AI agents. These three main threads are gradually coupling on the same infrastructure, ultimately pointing not to who is building Web3, but to who can define how the next-generation financial system operates. In this sense, Hong Kong's role is shifting from participant to 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 rather how the new power structure will be redistributed in this round of systemic restructuring.</p></div></div>

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<p>The 2026 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival marks a pivotal shift in the Web3 narrative, transitioning from proving its value to institutionalization and structured implementation. Financial Secretary Paul Chan emphasized the importance of tokenization, expanding asset types beyond crypto to include currencies, bonds, and real estate. The introduction of AI as an economic agent will reshape market dynamics, enhancing efficiency and reducing intermediary roles. Hong Kong's regulatory framework is evolving from policy statements to executable systems, fostering innovation while ensuring stability, contrasting with the varied global approaches to Web3.</p>

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Hong Kong Web3 Carnival: A watershed moment for Web3 as it enters the implementation phase