Kota Kinabalu: Tokenisation could provide a new avenue for Sabah to develop and finance its blue economy by transforming real-world ocean-related assets into verifiable digital assets, said Hong Kong technology leader and academic advisor Anthony KC Leung.
He highlighted that tokenisation should be considered as a potential economic model for the blue economy, particularly as governments and industries seek ways to identify, value and finance ocean-related resources.
“The development of the blue economy requires more than simply recognising the value of ocean resources, as such assets would need to be properly packaged, valued and verified for ownership before they could be incorporated into systematic financing and investment frameworks,” he said at the 10th Malaysia Digital Economy Forum on Tuesday.
The fintech expert said he was particularly interested in the potential application of tokenisation to blue carbon, pointing to the need for carbon credits to be properly calculated, certified and verified so that they could form part of credible sustainable-finance mechanisms.
“Green bonds, blue bonds and carbon credits could potentially be brought together within an integrated system, while impact investing and impact financing could further support projects aimed at generating measurable environmental and economic benefits,” he explained.
Anthony also highlighted regenerative finance (ReFi) as another potential avenue, saying initiatives being promoted from Hong Kong and China could potentially expand across Asia and support sustainability-related projects through Web3 technologies.
He said the combination of artificial intelligence and blockchain could help address some of the weaknesses of conventional sustainability systems, with AI providing productivity and efficiency while blockchain could establish greater trust and identity.
“We call it trust technologies,” he said, explaining that the technologies should be combined with sustainability, impact financing, voluntary carbon markets and other sustainable models rather than being pursued in isolation.
Anthony said these technologies could also be applied to sustainable agriculture, citing projects in countries including Vietnam and Japan where AI, the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain were being considered in the transition from traditional farming to smart farming and eventually ReFi farming.
He noted that such systems could incorporate automated monitoring, carbon verification and carbon offsetting into standard operating procedures, demonstrating how digital technologies could be linked to real-world sustainability projects.
Anthony also referred to carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) capabilities developed in China, saying such technologies could have relevance to the blue economy before being packaged into tokenised structures.
However, he stressed that tokenisation could not simply be about adopting new technology, with legal and regulatory compliance being essential to ensuring that digital assets and projects were developed safely.
“Regulatory sandboxes could provide a more controlled environment for testing tokenised and digital assets, while helping governments and industry develop practical solutions without compromising regulatory safeguards,” he emphasised.
Anthony said he was encouraged by the potential for greater cooperation between Sabah, Malaysia, Hong Kong and mainland China, particularly given Malaysia’s interest in digital transformation and tokenisation.
Additionally, he said he had visited Malaysia several times to engage with universities, professors, researchers and other stakeholders, and was pleased to bring his technological experience and ongoing work to the country.
“For Sabah, the opportunity lay in exploring how emerging digital-finance mechanisms could be adapted to real-world blue-economy projects, allowing the value of marine and coastal resources to be better structured, verified and potentially connected to sustainable financing,” he concluded.
