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14 August 2025 – HKUST Institute for Finance Research has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Matrixport, the world’s leading all-in-one hub for crypto financial services, marking the beginning of a strategic partnership. The collaboration will focus on cutting-edge research in digital assets and real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation, tackling real-world challenges and promoting the sustainable development of the fintech ecosystems in both Hong Kong and globally.
The partnership will centre its research on XAUm — a physical gold-backed token issued by Matrixdock, Matrixport's dedicated RWA tokenisation platform. The two institutions will jointly investigate the global adoption and distribution of tokenised gold products, with a focus on user behaviour, market access mechanisms, and channel strategies. By examining the role of gold-based RWA assets in portfolio construction, macroeconomic hedging, and financial system resilience, the research aims to provide academic support and practical insights for innovative integration between digital assets and traditional financial markets.
In parallel, the collaboration will advance research into on-chain RWA data analytics and visualisation. By examining on-chain asset flows, transaction architectures, and decentralised lending behaviours, the study aims to uncover structural dynamics between blockchain-based and traditional financial systems. Leveraging the technological strengths of the HKUST Institute for Financial Research, the collaboration will focus on research into intelligent monitoring systems, optimizing market dynamics tracking models, and innovating risk modeling frameworks, enabling institutional investors to more efficiently grasp the operational patterns of the digital asset market and enhance their risk management strategies.
Bo Tang, Head of HKUST Institute for Financial Research, said, “Asset tokenization is redefining the way traditional financial markets operate. This collaboration will leverage the academic strengths of HKUST Institute for Financial Research and Matrixport’s industry expertise in the digital asset space to explore how blockchain technology can enhance asset liquidity, transparency, and accessibility. Through in-depth collaboration between academia and industry, we aim to produce research outcomes that combine academic rigor with practical guidance, contributing to the development of the RWA market and helping to build a more open and inclusive digital financial ecosystem.”
John Ge, CEO of Matrixport, stated, “RWA tokenisation, as an emerging bridge between traditional finance and Web3, offers a technological solution to two fundamental challenges—asset transparency and liquidity. In the context of Hong Kong’s continued efforts to build a robust, compliant fintech ecosystem, the strategic partnership between Matrixport and HKUST Institute for Finance Research represents more than just a convergence of expertise and technology. It reflects a deeper integration of industry, academia, and research, working in tandem to shape the future of tokenised finance. This collaboration aims to establish a new benchmark for the RWA sector and inject fresh momentum into the ongoing innovation of Hong Kong as a financial hub.”
Matrixport is an early player in the RWA tokenisation space. Through its dedicated platform Matrixdock, it was the first in Asia to launch a tokenised US Treasury product — STBT, and subsequently introduced XAUm, a physical gold-backed token, in late 2024. XAUm has since risen to become one of the top three gold tokens by on-chain adoption globally. As research collaboration with HKUST Institute for Finance Research progresses, XAUm — the foundation of this joint study — is poised to become a benchmark for tokenised gold products and a reference model for the broader tokenisation of precious metals.
