Exclusive Interview with Matrixdock Head Eva: The Mission of RWA is Not Just Simple Asset Tokenization, but to Engage More People in the New Financial System

As global economic uncertainty increases, the RWA sector is迎来前所未有的 rise opportunities.

• The Federal Reserve's policy shift, persistent economic inflation, and escalating geopolitical conflicts have led to a growing market demand for low-risk, stable-return investments;
• The approval of crypto spot ETFs in 2024 accelerates institutional capital inflow into on-chain finance, promoting the DeFi ecosystem towards compliance and maturity.
• Risk aversion sentiment is rising, and gold has become a core asset of interest for institutional funds. Against the backdrop of doubts about the transparency of traditional gold investments, this further boosts the rise of the RWA track.

In such a market environment, where will the next rise of the RWA track come from? Matrixdock believes it will come from intelligence and automation. By empowering with AI, investors can manage on-chain assets more efficiently, optimize investment strategies, and reduce trading costs, allowing more people to participate in the new development stage of the RWA market.

To further explore the future development of the RWA track, the challenges faced by the RWA industry, and the breakthrough points, we are fortunate to invite Eva, the head of Matrixdock, to listen to the voices of true builders in the RWA industry.

The following is a summary of the interview content:

**Odaily: With the development of blockchain technology, a variety of crypto "innovative" projects have sprung up. You have accumulated a lot of experience in the Internet industry and blockchain in the past, how did you decide to join the RWA track and participate in the formation of Matrixdock? **

Eva: Although there have been countless "innovations" in technology within the industry over the years, many products are still limited to the crypto circle. We are still far from truly impacting the global financial system or even participating in the lives of ordinary people.

If there is something that has the greatest chance of breaking the circle, or of bridging the invisible barrier between the crypto space and traditional finance, I believe it is RWA. RWA is not just the process of putting assets on the chain, but it is about reshaping the entire way finance operates, including the rebuilding of trust. It not only makes on-chain assets more robust but also makes traditional finance more efficient and transparent.

I personally believe that the value of technology should not be confined to code, but should truly change the world.

In the early days of the gaming industry, I learned to focus on user needs, making technology user-friendly and lowering barriers. This mindset allowed me to concentrate on how to make complex technology more accessible and usable for ordinary people after entering the blockchain space. When founding bitdeer cloud computing, we transformed mining into a shared model similar to ride-sharing through computing power slicing technology, enabling global users to participate with low barriers. This was one of the earliest innovations in Web3 that closely resembled the "sharing economy." Later, at the BTC.com mining pool, we introduced a user-level lucky value tracking metric, allowing miners to find ways to optimize mining efficiency faster.

These experiences have made me accustomed to starting from real needs and using technology to make complexity simpler. RWA enables Web3 to influence mainstream finance and even change the fairness of wealth distribution, and that's what I'm going to do, and that's what Matrixdock is doing.

Odaily: You just mentioned "using technology to simplify complexity." What pain points of traditional finance does RWA address? What role does Matrixdock play in this?

Eva: Traditional finance generally has the characteristics of being "slow," "expensive," and having "high thresholds." For example, traditional bond trading often involves multiple departments, with cumbersome processes and high transaction costs. However, RWA tokenization allows assets to be cleared on-chain at any time, resulting in higher efficiency and lower costs. Through smart contracts, transactions can be executed automatically, reducing intermediary steps; with high transparency, assets can be recorded and traded transparently and traceably via blockchain, effectively reducing fraud and misconduct in the market.

With the development of blockchain and smart contract technology, as well as the market's validation of the feasibility of RWA, more and more institutions and even regulatory bodies are actively embracing RWA. For example, banks like JPMorgan are exploring tokenized bonds, and regulatory bodies in countries like Switzerland and Singapore are also positively inclined towards the tokenization of real assets.

As a participant in the RWA industry, Matrixdock deeply understands the pain points of traditional finance, leading the industry standards in asset transparency, compliance, and user-friendliness. For example, our assets strictly adhere to "full reserve with audits" to ensure that "assets exist before tokens." We follow KYC/AML standards and collaborate with global institutions. The team combines expertise in traditional finance and blockchain to deliver tradable and value-added assets, making RWA investments simpler and more feasible. Currently, our STBT (U.S. Treasury Token) has reached an AUM of $120 million within a year and has become a foundational asset for stablecoin issuers and DeFi protocols. Our XAUm (Gold Token) has been online for less than six months and has already been deeply integrated into DeFi, enabling it to be used for collateral loans and trading hedges, making gold more flexible than ever.

Of course, we are currently facing some challenges. Traditional investors are accustomed to bank accounts, brokerage trading, and centralized custody, while on-chain investments involve wallet management, private key security, and smart contract interactions, which are a completely new experience for them. To address these issues, we have designed a complete process from KYC to on-chain operations, and also provide a user-friendly API to make it easier for both individuals and institutions to adopt and use our products.

Odaily: Speaking of gold, the transparency of physical gold has recently been criticized by the market, for example, Musk questioning the authenticity of the U.S. Treasury's gold reserves. How does Matrixdock's gold token address the investment pain points of physical gold?

Eva: The traditional gold market has always had two major pain points: opacity (e.g. lack of reserve audits) and low liquidity (e.g. geographical and time constraints for ETFs). Some time ago, Musk questioned the authenticity of the audit of U.S. gold reserves, which reflected the market's doubts about the transparency of precious metals investment.

The value of gold has always been built on trust, but if reserves are not transparent, the market finds it difficult to feel secure. This is the purpose of XAUm, to rebuild trust in gold using blockchain technology, making gold more transparent and verifiable.

XAUm is not "paper gold"; each token is backed by 100% LBMA certified physical gold. This gold comes from well-known suppliers such as Point Gold and Heraeus, stored in top global vaults like Brink’s and Malca Amit, ensuring safety and compliance, and also supports physical redemption. All reserves are regularly subject to independent audits, and users can check the gold storage status in real-time via blockchain, achieving true transparency. XAUm transforms gold from "hearsay" into "self-verification."

XAUm supports large transactions, allowing institutional investors to efficiently and securely allocate gold assets. Matrixdock connects to the global gold market through multi-layer liquidity integration, optimizing pricing to provide users with better liquidity and lower trading costs. For instance, during last month's gold shortage, we achieved daily purchases exceeding ten million dollars, with pricing better than the market.

Moreover, XAUm is also very "user-friendly"; it not only supports 7 × 24 trading but can also be staked in multiple DeFi protocols to enhance asset efficiency, and even combined with other on-chain assets to unlock funding potential.

XAUm brings gold from closed vaults to the open blockchain world, allowing every investor to become their own "gold auditor". With just a touch of a finger, they can verify reserve conditions in real time. Therefore, XAUm is not just an investment product, but a new industry standard that makes gold investment more transparent, flexible, and trustworthy. This is not just our vision, but also the direction of the future of financial technology.

Odaily: You just mentioned that the tokenization of government bonds and gold belongs to standard assets. What are your thoughts on the tokenization of non-standard assets? Does Matrixdock have any ideas for trying to tokenize non-standard assets?

Eva: The on-chainization of non-standard assets is a very good idea. During the DeFi Summer, there were abundant explorations in this area, which fully proved the demand for the on-chainization of non-standard assets. However, overall, the current foundational setup still cannot adequately meet the progress of on-chainization of non-standard assets.

Although the blockchain ecosystem has made progress, non-standard assets such as private equity and supply chain financing are still stuck on key issues such as transparency, liquidity, and credit mechanisms, and the market needs more breakthroughs.

From the perspective of Matrixdock, we believe that the on-chainization of non-standard assets is definitely the next step in the development of RWA, but the key lies in whether market demand and infrastructure are mature enough. Our strategy is 'standardize first, then non-standard.' At this stage, our focus is on highly liquid, widely recognized standardized assets (such as US Treasuries and gold), as they already have mature trading markets and can seamlessly integrate into the on-chain financial system. In the future, we will also pay attention to the possibilities of non-standard assets, but the core logic will not change: transparency, liquidity, and composability of on-chain finance. If a certain type of non-standard asset can achieve breakthroughs in these three aspects, such as short-term supply chain financing or even structured yield products, we will immediately consider how to incorporate it into the Matrixdock ecosystem. But at present, we prefer to deepen and thoroughly explore the market for standardized assets to lay a solid foundation for the future tokenization of non-standard assets.

Odaily: Matrixdock recently mentioned in its product updates the deep integration of RWA and AI. As the first RWA participant in the industry to propose the concept of AI integration, Eva, could you elaborate on why we should embrace AI? What perceptions might this create for investors?

Apart from the genuine demand in the market, I often think about where the future of RWA lies. We can see the current popularity of RWA, and we have also witnessed the rapid development of AI at the "heaven" level, which makes the trend of AI "from brain to hand" inevitable. In this wave of technology, we firmly believe that the future of RWA lies in the deep integration of AI and blockchain, building new financial infrastructure to make the financial market smarter and more efficient.

RWA is not just about tokenizing assets; there's much more to the combination expansion after tokenization. We can hold and interact with more on-chain protocols through CeFi and DeFi, gaining greater liquidity and higher asset utilization. With the popularization of AI, AI Agents, as important asset management participation tools, have two clear requirements for the assets to be mobilized in on-chain interactions: asset recognizability and asset callability.

This involves the core concept of Matrixdock, "making assets come alive," which we call "financial Lego." RWA is not just about going on-chain, but about being truly usable. Through blockchain, AI, and programmable assets, we are building a more transparent and intelligent financial system, allowing traditional financial assets and crypto-native assets to be freely combined, traded, and applied like Lego. Our STBT (U.S. Treasury Token) and XAUm (Gold Token) are not just tokenized assets but also smart asset combinations that can be supported through wallets and APIs. Whether individuals, institutions, or AI agents, they can combine these assets like building with "Lego," supporting stablecoins, DeFi, and institutional applications, unleashing limitless potential.

In the future, AI will automatically optimize asset allocation, such as dynamically adjusting the proportion of gold and US Treasuries, while blockchain ensures that every transaction is transparent and trustworthy, and smart contracts enable 24/7 second-level trading, eliminating intermediaries and reducing costs. Matrixdock empowers RWA with AI + blockchain, allowing assets to operate independently while investors reap the benefits. This is not only our vision but also the reality we are currently implementing.

Odaily: Thank you, Eva, for sharing about AI finance. I am very much looking forward to seeing the intelligent future of RWA. At the end of this interview, we selected a question from an investor who is most curious about gold: Is now a suitable time to invest in gold, and do you have any investment advice?

Eva: Trump's tariff policies have indeed raised market uncertainty, and geopolitical factors have further amplified this instability. Gold, as a safe-haven asset, is naturally in high demand.

Although the current gold price continues to reach new highs, the core value of gold lies not in short-term fluctuations, but in its long-term anti-inflation and safe-haven attributes. Considering the global economic turmoil, issues of dollar credit, and the controversy over the transparency of gold reserves, allocating a portion of gold as a long-term hedge remains a reasonable choice.

My investment advice is: First, invest in gold through dollar-cost averaging to smooth out fluctuations. By purchasing in batches, the impact of market sentiment on investments is reduced. At the same time, adjust positions flexibly, with a recommended allocation of 5% -10% of personal investment. Second, under the condition of clear personal investment risks, appropriately increase the asset utilization rate of gold. Traditional gold can only be stored and does not generate interest, but through gold tokens (such as XAUm), you can stake and borrow to exchange for stablecoins, invest in other assets, improve capital efficiency, while retaining exposure to gold.

In summary: If investors have a long-term hedging demand, now is still a good time to allocate gold; if they want to improve the utilization of funds, choosing gold tokens for staking and lending can allow assets to exert greater value, making gold move and enabling flexible asset allocation plans.