The two-way movement between the crypto market and the traditional capital market

Author: Liu Honglin

The global crypto market is undergoing a dramatic transformation, from wild growth to compliance and mainstream adoption. The limitations and challenges of the traditional decentralized foundation model in real-world business can no longer be ignored or concealed. Against this backdrop, the mutual convergence of listed companies and the crypto ecosystem has become crucial for breakthroughs. Real-world asset tokenization (RWA), serving as a settlement medium, further bridges the value gap between the crypto market and traditional finance.

The crypto industry’s shift towards compliance

Early crypto projects, centered around "decentralized collaboration," largely relied on the "foundation model." However, as the industry expanded, contradictions within this model became increasingly apparent: the non-profit nature of foundations naturally conflicted with the profitability of startup teams. The decision-making efficiency of decentralized organizations (DAOs) struggled to keep pace with the fast-paced commercial market. Furthermore, tightening global regulations made compliance an unavoidable issue.

Against this backdrop, the integration of listed companies and crypto assets ("crypto-stock integration") has become a new area of exploration. On the one hand, traditional listed companies are eager to find new growth paths through crypto asset allocation; on the other hand, crypto projects hope to leverage the regulatory compliance and capital channels of listed companies to achieve scalable development. This fusion of the two is not a random commercial experiment, but rather the inevitable result of the industry's evolution from "unregulated growth" to "compliant and mainstream."

This "two-way rush" trend has been implemented in many places, forming a replicable practical path.

Two-Way Journey: The Integration of Traditional Capital and Crypto Ecosystem

(1) Traditional listed companies: actively embracing crypto assets and opening up new growth space

Globally, cryptocurrency allocations by listed companies have evolved from isolated cases to a widespread phenomenon. Data from July 2025 showed that at least 116 listed companies globally publicly disclosed holdings of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies; just one month later, this number had risen to 142, with nearly 100 new companies added within six months. The core logic behind this is that Bitcoin and other crypto assets have outperformed 99.99% of traditional assets in terms of investment returns over the past decade, making them a crucial option for combating inflation and optimizing asset allocation.

1. Strategy: A positive cycle driven by "Bitcoin faith"

Strategy, a US-listed company, is a benchmark for this trend. Its founder is known as a staunch Bitcoin supporter. The company currently holds approximately 620,000 to 630,000 Bitcoins, making it the largest publicly listed company in the world. Its business model is centered around a positive cycle of "low-cost financing – increasing Bitcoin holdings – asset appreciation – and refinancing."

• Obtain low-cost funds by issuing low-interest bonds, transferable equity and other instruments;
• Large-scale purchases of Bitcoin drive market demand and price increases;
• After the value of Bitcoin increases, more funds are obtained through additional stock issuance, pledge financing, etc., and further holdings are increased.

Although the market is concerned that this model poses a "bubble risk", judging from the financial data, the low-interest financing tools issued by the strategy have a long term and low cost, which is sufficient to support the company's stable operation for decades. The security of its business model is sustainable at the current stage.

2. Boyaa Interactive: A Hong Kong-listed company's Web3 transformation example

Unlike its strategic focus, the transformation of Hong Kong-listed Boyaa Interactive is characterized by a fusion of "traditional business + Web3." Originally focused on overseas gaming, Boyaa Interactive announced a strategic shift to Web3 in 2023, with the goal of becoming a "leading Web3 project company."

• In terms of funding sources, it does not rely solely on external financing, but instead uses the cash flow generated by the gaming business to allocate Bitcoin; in 2025, it will issue an additional HK$500 million to further expand its crypto asset reserves;
• In terms of business layout, in addition to Bitcoin reserves, it also invests in the industry data platform RootData, participates in crypto funds, and integrates Web3 technology and GameFi gameplay into its core gaming business.

The transformation has yielded significant results: Before 2023, Boyaa Interactive's market capitalization was only approximately HK$400 million, with dismal stock trading volume. After the transformation, trading volume increased 50-100 times, and its market capitalization increased approximately 13 times. Compared to companies that bought and then sold cryptocurrencies earlier, Boyaa Interactive's case demonstrates that the deep integration of traditional businesses with Web3 holds greater long-term value than simply investing in crypto assets.

In addition to businesses, traditional financial institutions are also accelerating their entry into the market. Nasdaq has applied to the US SEC to allow tokenized stocks to be traded on its exchange, while also investing in cryptocurrency exchanges. This marks a shift in traditional capital markets' recognition of the crypto space from passive acceptance to active investment.

(II) Crypto Ecosystem: Leveraging the Capital Market to Achieve Compliance Breakthroughs

Over the past quarter, another major trend has become increasingly clear: crypto projects are escaping the limitations of the "foundation model" through traditional capital channels like backdoor listings, achieving compliant and scalable development. The core logic is: acquiring a listed company with a smaller market capitalization and a weakening core business, injecting crypto assets (tokens, technology IP, etc.) as capital, making them core assets of the listed company; simultaneously divesting existing non-core businesses, ultimately creating a dual identity of "crypto project + listed company," addressing compliance issues while improving asset liquidity.

1. Tron: A Crypto Benchmark Backdoor Listing

Tron is an early pioneer in exploring this model. By acquiring a listed company through foreign capital or investors and injecting crypto assets, this not only drives significant stock price increases but also allows tokens, previously mired in a "gray area," to be backed by the company's assets, creating substantial benefits. Industry insiders have joked, "Before February 2023, crypto traders were considered 'fringe players'; after the Bitcoin ETF was approved, everyone suddenly became 'honored Nasdaq traders.'" This "transformation" is precisely what crypto projects aspire to achieve through the capital markets—from "niche" to "mainstream," from "high-risk" to "compliant."

2. Sui Project: A New Attempt to Link Private Equity with IPOs

Sui is a Web3 project founded by core members of the Libra team at Meta (formerly Facebook), focusing on gaming and payments. The team recently raised $450 million in a private placement, repurchasing a large portion of its own tokens at approximately $0.35 per token and encouraging a publicly listed company to increase its holdings. Over the past two weeks, the listed company has not only changed its name to emphasize its Web3 nature but has also continued to increase capital and expand its stock to acquire more tokens, replicating the "asset injection + market capitalization increase" model. This combination of private equity funding and publicly listed company holdings reduces the risk of a single entity and provides more flexible capitalization options for crypto projects.

3. TreeGraph Blockchain: Exploring Hong Kong Stock Compliance for Domestic Projects

Comflux is a representative Web3 project in China. Leveraging the Shanghai Comflux Blockchain Research Institute, its core team comprises graduates from Tsinghua University's Yao Class and enjoys local government support. Comflux recently announced plans to enter into an exclusive partnership with a Hong Kong-listed company: injecting its own tokens into the listed company, making it the operating entity for Comflux's Hong Kong listing. Furthermore, Comflux's core shareholders have pledged not to sell their tokens for the next year to bolster investor confidence. This initiative offers a new approach for domestic Web3 projects: collaborating with traditional listed companies within a compliant framework to connect with global capital market resources.

RWA: The third path connecting reality and virtuality

In addition to the "stock-to-coin linkage," the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) is another key direction connecting traditional commerce with Web3. However, there's a significant disconnect between the industry's understanding of RWA. In reality, RWA can currently be categorized into three types, each with distinct application scenarios and compliance logic, requiring careful consideration.

Tokenization of Traditional Financial Products: The Most Inclusive Path

The core approach is to "encapsulate" traditional financial assets like stocks, funds, and bonds into tokens through blockchain technology, enabling 24/7 trading on-chain or through regulated exchanges. For example, tokenizing Tesla and Apple shares, or OpenAI's unlisted equity, allows users subject to capital controls and facing difficulties opening accounts to hold high-quality global assets through on-chain operations.

The advantages of this model are that it expands the audience and sales channels for traditional financial products without changing the underlying asset, resulting in relatively low compliance costs. Currently, compliant exchanges in Hong Kong are experimenting with tokenizing money market funds, attracting on-chain users and institutions, demonstrating its commercial viability.

New Energy RWA (Hong Kong Model): A Capital Play with an Exploration or PR-Oriented Approach

This model leverages stable income-generating assets (such as charging stations and photovoltaic power plants) both domestically and internationally. The income rights are packaged into wealth management products (bonds or funds) and issued overseas to qualified investors. Due to the interest rate differential between domestic and international markets, listed companies such as Ant, Longsun, and Sincere New Energy have become major players over the past year or so.

However, its value needs to be viewed objectively: this model is more suitable for companies with marketing budgets and a need for capital market buzz. For private companies seeking to solve financing problems through this approach, they may face high compliance costs and complex processes, making it less cost-effective. It's more of a PR exercise designed to leverage the RWA concept to boost brand awareness.

Non-financial RWA: A lightweight entry option for SMEs

This type of RWA tends to focus on product pre-sales or tokenized membership benefits, focusing on raising funds from clients/consumers rather than relying on shareholder or institutional investment. For example, converting product pre-sales rights and membership points into tokens can boost brand exposure, activate potential users, and generate cash flow for business development.

I am particularly optimistic about this model: on the one hand, it does not touch the financial red line and has low compliance risks; on the other hand, it directly connects "business needs" and "user value" without the need for complex capital operations. For small and medium-sized enterprises, it is the safest and most pragmatic path to enter Web3.

Future trend: dual-wheel drive of enterprise currency and stock

With the development of "two-way rush" and RWA, the organizational form and value distribution method of future companies will undergo profound changes - "dual-wheel drive of currency and stock" will become the mainstream choice, but it is completely different from the traditional perception of "issuing currency for financing and getting rich through speculation".

Traditional equity: It solves the problems of "financing" and "long-term equity sharing" and is aimed at shareholders and investors. Its core function is to inject capital into company development and allow investors to share in long-term value growth. It is the "capital cornerstone" of the company.

Token: solves the problems of "ecological collaboration" and "user value sharing", and is aimed at consumers and upstream and downstream partners in the industry. The form may include digital collections, point tokenization (such as AMT), etc. The core positioning is "welfare, airdrop, value sharing tool" rather than a financing vehicle.

The case of Hong Kong's HashKey Group is very representative: the ecological points (HSK) it issues do not have financing attributes and are only used for market linkage with partners and employee rewards; more importantly, the group uses 20% of its profits to repurchase HSK each year, allowing point holders (users, employees, and partners) to indirectly benefit from the ecological value-added, similar to the effect of "virtual shareholders" or "equity incentive pools."

In short, equity solves the problem of "where does the money come from" and tokens solve the problem of "to whom the value is distributed". The two complement each other and together constitute the value system of future companies, retaining the stability of traditional capital while having the flexibility of the Web3 ecosystem.