Retail investors in Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland may double their asset allocation to funds, leveraging digital money and advanced features enabled by tokenisation, according to new research commissioned by Aptos Labs, core contributor to the Aptos Layer-1 blockchain, and Boston Consulting Group.
This follows a successful joint pilot with Hang Seng Bank conducted under Project e-HKD+.
With the rapid global evolution of digital money and tokenisation, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority renamed Project e-HKD as Project e-HKD+ in 2024.
It commenced Phase 2 of the e-HKD Pilot Program (Phase 2), expanding its coverage from e-HKD only to a more comprehensive exploration of the digital money ecosystem in Hong Kong.
Under Phase 2, Hang Seng Bank, Aptos Labs, and BCG collaborated on a joint pilot to explore new business features and investor use cases, which was followed by the Digital Money & Tokenised Assets Hong Kong Survey, conducted by Aptos Labs and BCG, to validate the commercial viability of these features.
Conducted between May and June 2025, the Digital Money & Tokenised Assets Hong Kong Survey engaged over 500 retail fund investors to assess their behaviour, perceptions, and demand for tokenised fund products.
The findings revealed strong investor interest and confirmed that these innovative features are not only feasible but also highly valued by retail investors.
The survey findings highlight strong momentum for tokenised funds, with 61% of retail investors in Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland planning to double their allocations, driven by innovative features enabled by tokenisation.
In particular, Chinese Mainland respondents expressed a high demand for cross-border investment avenues.
The results also signal a shifting investor landscape, where attributes such as liquidity, transparency, and faster access to capital are becoming increasingly valued alongside traditional performance metrics.
“The survey results underscore the scale of opportunity in tokenised funds and programmable digital money,” said Solomon Tesfaye, Chief Business Officer of Aptos Labs. “These technologies are transforming the investment landscape and investor expectations—unlocking efficiency, transparency, and new possibilities.”
Tesfaye added, “Aptos Labs is honoured to be part of Phase 2 of the e-HKD+ pilot program and the e-HKD Industry Forum in partnership with Hang Seng and BCG, contributing to building the infrastructure that helps bring these opportunities to life.”
David Chan, Managing Director and Partner at BCG, highlighted that BCG’s global experience in digital money initiatives and business builds suggests that successful digital money adoption “depends on delivering a clear value proposition for each client segment”.
Chan said, “Firms need a holistic operating model to orchestrate rapidly evolving technologies for effective value delivery. We hope our survey findings help guide healthy and responsible industry growth.”
