Onigiri Weekend Digest: Institutional Lens #21

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Good weekend from the Onigiri team.

We hope Consensus Hong Kong week was productive for everyone — with meaningful conversations, new institutional relationships formed, and clarity gained on where digital asset infrastructure is truly heading. The regional contrast this week could not be sharper

Recap this Week's Headliners

SS #73 – China Expands Crypto Crackdown to Stablecoins and Asset Tokenization
SS #74 – Malaysia Propels Stablecoin Pilots for Wholesale Banking

Two Asian economies. Two very different directions.

• China moves to consolidate sovereign monetary control and eliminate private digital cash substitutes.

• Malaysia accelerates bank-led stablecoin pilots into regulated wholesale finance.

Together, these headlines signal a defining reality: stablecoins are no longer a crypto experiment — they are now monetary infrastructure policy.

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🍙Onigiri Take

The divergence between China and Malaysia highlights a deeper structural shift.

China’s position is consistent with long-standing capital control priorities. By explicitly banning unauthorized RMB-linked stablecoins and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, the People’s Bank of China is preventing:

• Digital yuan substitution

• Offshore RMB liquidity leakage

• On-chain securities markets beyond state oversight

Expect accelerated rollout of e-CNY rails as the sole programmable liquidity channel domestically.

In contrast, Bank Negara Malaysia is embracing a controlled experimentation model:

• Ringgit-pegged stablecoins

• Tokenized deposits

• Shariah-aligned digital asset frameworks

• Wholesale cross-border settlement pilots

Malaysia is not liberalizing retail crypto. It is modernizing banking rails.

The implication is clear: Stablecoins are increasingly being shaped by central banks as extensions of sovereign liquidity — not decentralized alternatives.

🍙Winners & Losers: Institutional Outlook

🍙Under the Hood: Sovereign Control vs Bank-Led Tokenization

China’s directive goes beyond crypto suppression. It directly criminalizes:

• Unauthorized offshore RMB-pegged stablecoins

• Domestic RWA tokenization (property, commodities, securities)

• Foreign entities targeting mainland Chinese users

This eliminates potential “digital capital flight” vectors and ensures the e-CNY remains the only programmable RMB channel. The move also freezes RWA experimentation within mainland China, effectively shifting institutional tokenization activity toward Hong Kong’s regulated environment.

Meanwhile in Malaysia, the pilot involves major financial institutions including:

• Standard Chartered

• Maybank

• CIMB

The focus areas include:

• B2B cross-border settlements

• 24/7 programmable treasury flows

• Tokenized deposit clearing for RWAs

• Shariah-compliant digital asset structuring

Malaysia’s innovation lies not in decentralization — but in integration. Rather than displacing banks, stablecoins are being embedded inside the banking perimeter.

Future Trend Signals:

1. Stablecoins increasingly structured as tokenized deposits rather than bearer crypto assets

2. Shariah-compliant programmable liquidity as a new growth vector

3. Regional divergence in digital asset permissiveness

4. CBDC–stablecoin hybrid models emerging in Asia

🍙Stablecoin ≠ Crypto — Monetary Infrastructure is the Real Game

This week reinforces a critical reframing that stablecoins are not primarily speculative instruments. They are becoming:

• Cross-border settlement rails

• Bank-native programmable liquidity layers

• Regulatory-compliant digital deposits

• Strategic monetary tools

China’s approach eliminates private competition with sovereign money. Malaysia’s approach institutionalizes blockchain inside sovereign banking. The common denominator is not decentralization. It is control, efficiency, and liquidity optimization.

🍙Institutional Risks & Unknowns

Despite the progress, several open questions remain:

1. Fragmentation Risk: Tokenized deposits issued by individual banks may create siloed liquidity pools unless interoperability standards emerge.

2. Regulatory Arbitrage Tension: Hong Kong’s openness vs Mainland restriction may create geopolitical and compliance complexity.

3. Capital Control Enforcement Escalation: China may extend scrutiny to offshore RMB-related digital assets more aggressively.

4. Shariah Compliance Standardization: Malaysia’s Islamic finance framework must align scholars, regulators, and technologists consistently to scale globally.

5. Wholesale CBDC vs Stablecoin Competition: Will tokenized deposits eventually be absorbed into wholesale CBDC models?

6. Interoperability Across Jurisdictions: ASEAN cross-border settlement success depends on regulatory harmonization.

Onigiri Capital (onigiri.vc), a US$50 million blockchain-focused investment fund, launched by Saison Capital, the venture arm of Japan’s Credit Saison. Onigiri Capital is on a mission to chart the next chapter of finance and invest in seed and Series A blockchain startups in stablecoins, payments, RWAs, DeFi and financial infrastructure. The fund’s strategy emphasizes connecting startups to Asia’s growing digital asset markets.

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Disclaimer: All the information presented in this publication and its affiliates is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or taken as financial, legal, investment, or any other form of advice.