College of Business, City University of Hong Kong
Executive Education
City University of Hong Kong
Executive Education

Cryptocurrency, Stablecoins and RWA:
Web3 Executive Development Programme: Strategic Reboot from First Principles

Programme Duration 3 Days
Location Hong Kong
Target Participants Senior executives, policymakers, legal and compliance officers, fintech investors, digital asset professionals

Programme Rationale

In the midst of global fintech transformation, Web3 and tokenized finance have become strategic pillars for the future of Hong Kong’s financial markets. From regulatory bodies and policymakers to pioneering enterprises, the city is aligning behind a shared ambition: to build a globally competitive digital asset ecosystem grounded in robust legal infrastructure, stablecoin innovation, and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.

Yet, as HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue has cautioned, the current discourse on Web3 is often fragmented and hype-driven, lacking clarity in conceptual foundations and policy frameworks. To address this, City University of Hong Kong, as a world-class research institution, together with Laboratory for AI-Powered Financial Technologies (AIFT), launches this executive programme to help senior professionals, investors, and public-sector leaders reconnect with the first principles of finance, technology, and governance in the Web3 era.

This 3-day programme brings together leading scholars and practitioners across finance, law, technology, and regulation. Through a mix of immersive lectures, site visits, simulations, and peer dialogue, participants will develop a multidimensional understanding of Web3 finance—bridging economic theory, technical architecture, legal enforceability, and regulatory logic.

Day 1: Paradigm Shifts in Financial History and the Hong Kong Opportunity

Opening Remarks
Speakers Speaker: CityUHK or CB Management
Time 09:00-09:30 (0.5 hour)
Morning Session
Speakers Prof. Houmin Yan, Prof. Wayne Yu, Mr. Xiaoyong Liu
Time 9:30 am to 1:00 pm (3.5 hours)

This session begins with a keynote by Prof. Houmin Yan, framing the importance of “returning to first principles” as the foundation for serious engagement with Web3.

Prof. Wayne Yu will then trace the evolution of money and finance, from ancient commodities and central banks to smart contracts and tokenized assets—setting the stage for a historical and technological rethinking of monetary institutions.

Mr. Xiaoyong Liu will conclude with an insider’s view of Hong Kong’s digital asset policy, exploring the strategic logic behind VATP licenses, stablecoin regulation, and RWA pilots, positioning Hong Kong in the global Web3 race.

Afternoon Session
Speaker Prof. Xiaofan Liu
Time 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm (4 hours)

This session will be led by Prof. Xiaofan Liu, who will dive into the intellectual foundations and contested narratives of Web3.

The first half will examine the ideological roots of decentralization, tracing Web3’s origins through the lenses of crypto-anarchism, internet governance, and digital sovereignty.

The second half will critique the narrative fragmentation in “Web3 finance” - highlighting conflicts among cyberlibertarianism, techno-solutionism, and regulatory convergence - and will propose a framework for redefining the field with conceptual clarity and institutional relevance.

Evening Session
Time 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm (3 hours)

Dinner Dialogue with professors and CityUHK/CB management

Continuation of the Day 1 session into an intellectually rich evening dialogue session designed to promote candid exchange among faculty and participants over dinner. It also serves as a Q&A for the day’s session.

Day 2: Technical Foundations and Legal Pathways in Web3 Finance

Morning Session
Speaker Prof. Guangwu Liu
Time 9:00 am to 1:00 pm (4 hours)

This session will focus on the technical design of Web3 financial models and their intersection with real-world regulation.

In the first half, Prof. Liu will present a structured overview of Web3 protocols, smart contract logic, and on-chain financial architecture—framing the design principles behind composability, incentives, and capital efficiency.

In the second half, Prof. Liu will explore the regulatory tensions between DeFi and TradFi, addressing the challenges of technology neutrality, enforcement asymmetry, and systemic risk. Prof. Liu introduces the concept of “regulatory justice” as a normative framework for future policy.

Afternoon Session
Speakers Ms. Wang Lele & Mr. Jicheng Xing
Time 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm (4 hours)

This session will focus on the global regulations governing Web3 and quantitative frameworks for on-chain strategy modelling. The session will be led by Ms. Wang Lele, who has over seven years of experience in the cryptocurrency industry, and Mr. Jicheng Xing, quant strategist.

The first lecture will be led by Ms. Wang Lele, and she will provide an in-depth presentation and analysis on global regulations governing Web3-related businesses, as well as the prospects and frustrations experienced by local practitioners. The second lecture will be led by Mr. Jicheng Xing, who will build on Ms. Wang’s sharing, and will provide transitions into on-chain strategy modelling. He will introduce quantitative frameworks for signal design, portfolio construction, and execution in DeFi markets - equipping participants with data-driven tools for real-world application.

Day 3: Frontiers & Foresight

Morning Session: AI-Native Web3
Speaker Prof. Guangwu Liu
Time 9:00 am to 1:00 pm (4 hours)

Learning to Trade: AI for AMMs and Reinforcement Learning in DeFi

Introduces the use of RL in optimizing liquidity, pricing, and execution in decentralized markets. Includes demonstration.

Afternoon Session: Strategy Lab & Policy Simulation
Speakers Prof. Xiaofan Liu & Ms. Wang Lele
Time 2:00 pm to 5:30 pm (3.5 hours)

Capstone Innovation Lab:
Regulatory Sandbox Research & Strategic Pitch
Participants form teams, select a use case (e.g., stablecoin, tokenized IP), and conduct a comparative sandbox study (HK, UAE, Singapore, UK, etc.). They deliver a policy-compliant go-to-market plan.

Simulation Exercise:
Crypto Sandbox Review Board
Role-play where teams pitch their Web3 initiative to a simulated regulator board. Board members (played by peers or faculty) approve/deny based on legal fit, risk, and innovation level.

Wrap-up & Certification Ceremony
Time 5:30 pm to 6:00 pm (0.5 hours)

College of Business, City University of Hong Kong
Laboratory for AI-Powered Financial Technologies (AIFT)

Speakers

Prof. Houmin Yan

Professor Houmin Yan is Chair Professor of Management Sciences, and director of MSc in Accounting and Finance with AI and Fintech Applications, City University of Hong Kong and Beijing National Accounting Institute. He is also the Director, Hong Kong Laboratory of AI-Powered Financial Technologies, Ltd. He was Dean of the College of Business at the City University of Hong Kong from Jan. 2013 to June 2020 (Acting Dean June 2019-June 2020) . Prior to joining CityU he served as Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and as Associate Director and Science Advisor for the Hong Kong R&D Center for Logistics and Supply Chain Management Enabling Technologies. He has also worked as a tenured Associate Professor at the School of Management, University of Texas at Dallas.

Professor Yan's main research areas are stochastic models, machine learning and algorithms, risk modeling and analysis, and supply chain management. He has published in journals such as Operations Research, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, IIE Transactions, Production and Operations Management, Journal of Optimization: Theory and Applications, and IEEE Transactions. Professor Yan's work has won widespread recognition. In a commissioned citation study by Journal of Operations Management on the knowledge evolution in Operations Management over last thirty years, his research work in supply chain coordination has been recognized as part of general knowledge structure for Operations Management of 2000s. In 2004, his paper (co-authored with Gan and Sethi) "Coordination of Supply Chains with Risk-Averse Agents" (POM, Vol. 13, 2004, 135 -149) received the Wickham-Skinner Best paper Award from the 2nd World Conference on Production and Operations Management and the Society of Production and Operations Management (POMs). In 2005, his paper (co-authored with Lee and Tan) "Designing An Assembly Process with Stochastic Material Arrivals" (IIE Transactions, Vol. 35, 2003, 803-815) has been awarded the Best Paper Award for "the focus issues on Operations Engineering for 2003-2004" from the Institute of Industrial Engineers(IIE). In 2012, his paper (co-authored with Buzacott and Zhang) "Risk Analysis of Commitment-Option Contracts with Forecast Updates" (IIE Transactions, Vol. 43, 2011, 415-431) has been awarded the Best Paper Prize in Scheduling and Logistics from the Institute of Industrial Engineers(IIE).

He received his BSc. and MSc. from Tsinghua University, both in electrical engineering, and his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in business. He is a member of Business Studies, Research Grant Council (RGC), a member of Hongkong Academy of Finance, a member of EQUIS Committee, EFMD, and a member of CIR Committee, AACSB.

Prof. YU Wayne W.

Prof. Wayne W. Yu is a professor of finance at City University of Hong Kong’s College of Business. He received his Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Alberta and began his academic career as an Assistant Professor at Queen’s University in Canada. He was on the faculty of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University before joining CityU in 2015 as a professor.

A CFA charterholder, Prof. Yu has teaching and research expertise in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, financial accounting, and capital markets. He has published extensively in leading academic journals such as the Journal of Financial Economics, the Journal of Empirical Finance, and the Journal of International Money and Finance, among others. Beyond academia, Prof. Yu contributes to the professional community: he has served as a member of the Honorary Advisory Panel of Hong Kong’s Accounting and Financial Reporting Council (AFRC, the city’s audit regulator), is currently a member of AFRC’s Policy, Registration and Oversight Committee, and serves as an independent director on the boards of several publicly listed companies in the US, Hong Kong and Mainland China, bridging academic insights with industry practice.

Prof. Xiaofan LIU

Prof. Xiaofan Liu is a computational social scientist. His research focuses on using AI and network science to analyze and intervene human behaviors on the Internet and in the cryptocurrency industry. He has authored over 70 papers and a book, garnered funding from various governmental and non-profit sources. His collaboration spans over telecommunication companies, financial institutions, digital marketing companies, and police forces.

He is the director of the CityUHK - China Unicom Joint Laboratory for Intelligent Scam Prevention. He is also affiliated with Prof. Jonathan Zhu's Web Mining Laboratory, Prof. Ron Chen's Centre for Complexity and Complex Networks, and the Laboratory for AI-powered Financial Technology Ltd., one of CityUHK's InnoHK research centres, where he founded Eurybia Technology Ltd., a technology powerhouse for the Web3 industry.

Prof. Liu holds a Bachelor of Science (with Honours) in Internet and Multimedia Technologies and a Ph.D. in Network Science from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, earned in 2008 and 2012 respectively. Previously, he was an Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science and Engineering at Southeast University, China.

Prof. LIU Guangwu

Prof. Liu Guangwu is a Professor in the Department of Decision Analytics and Operations at City University of Hong Kong. He joined CityU in 2009 as an assistant professor and rose to full professorship by 2018. Prof. Liu received his PhD in Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2009, after obtaining a BSc in Information and Computing Science from Tsinghua University. His research specializes in financial engineering and risk management, with a focus on stochastic simulation methods and machine learning applications in business analytics. He has published extensively in top academic journals such as Operations Research, Management Science, and INFORMS Journal on Computing, contributing important work on Monte Carlo simulation techniques for financial risk analysis. In recognition of his early contributions, Prof. Liu received the Early Career Award from Hong Kong’s Research Grants Council in 2012, and the INFORMS Simulation Society’s Outstanding Publication Award in the same year. He also serves as an Associate Editor for the journals Naval Research Logistics and Operations Research, highlighting his active role in the professional community. At CityU, Prof. Liu teaches courses in risk analytics and stochastic operations research at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, sharing his expertise in quantitative methods for finance and risk management.

Mr. Victor LIU

Victor LIU has been engaged in financial investment and business management for more than 30 years. He has served as senior management of various financial enterprises, senior management of listed companies, and senior management of Hong Kong securities companies. He has rich and successful experiences in business management and financial investment. He received his Executive Master of Business Administration from Peking University. He was the chairman of China Financial Leasing Association.