GoFintech Charles Zeng: Using Canadian Oil and Gas Assets as an Example, the Next Phase of RWA is Bringing Energy Assets On-Chain

Techub News reports that GWDC 2026 Korea will be held from September 29 to 30, 2026, at the aT Center in Seoul, South Korea. The event is hosted by Web3Labs and co-hosted by Techub News, HypaiLabs, and TokenPost. On the second day of the event, Charles Zeng, Global Head of Digital Assets at GoFintech Quantum Innovation Limited, delivered a speech titled "The Next Phase of RWA: Bringing Energy Assets On-Chain." Charles Zeng introduced that GoFintech Quantum Innovation is a Hong Kong-listed company holding Type 1, 4, 6, and 9 licenses from the Securities and Futures Commission and has obtained virtual asset business licenses, enabling it to provide virtual asset trading services to professional investors. The company's investment portfolio can be fully allocated to digital assets. The company is a founding shareholder of RD Technologies, which has entered Hong Kong's stablecoin sandbox. The company also indirectly invested in a licensed Swiss digital asset bank and is currently applying for a Hong Kong virtual asset trading platform license and a Labuan digital asset license in Malaysia, aiming to establish dual hubs in Malaysia and Hong Kong.

Charles Zeng used a recent RWA project of the company as an example to illustrate the approach to bringing energy assets on-chain: the underlying asset is an oil and gas field in Alberta, Canada, consisting of a growth-oriented undeveloped reserve asset and a cash flow-oriented mature production asset. The assets are independently evaluated by a third party and secured by a first-priority security interest on the underlying asset. Structurally, asset-backed senior secured notes are used, with investors holding fund interests rather than the assets themselves. Tokens act as digital certificates on the public blockchain, managed by a licensed investment manager and exclusively offered to qualified investors, such as professional investors in Hong Kong. Charles Zeng explained that asset screening involves four steps: independent reserve report verification, clear ownership, risk screening for environmental liabilities and abandonment obligations, and balancing production assets with high-potential assets.

Charles Zeng believes that Asia's RWA pathway involves progressing from Hong Kong compliance to token exchanges and then to public blockchains: compliance determines whether the asset is recognized, exchanges determine whether it can effectively reach global investors, and public blockchains determine whether the asset can be combined with other assets. Charles Zeng emphasized that tokenized units, if confined to funds, have limited liquidity. True liquidity comes from distribution to exchanges and entry into secondary markets. Hong Kong compliance is just the starting point, and exchanges are the critical final step for liquidity. Future competition will not be about who owns the assets but about who can deliver them to global investors. Charles Zeng also raised five questions for evaluating RWA projects: What exactly do you own? Who determines the value? Who operates it, and are they licensed? Can you exit? And what happens if something goes wrong?