Principles and Methods for Activating Trillions of Dollars in Dormant Assets
Zhu Weisha, Cui Qi
October 23, 2025
Acknowledgments: The charts and calculations in this article were provided by Mr. Lu Tiegeng.
Glossary
Antique Coin: Cryptocurrency issued with antiques as the underlying anchored asset.
Prerequisite for Market Pricing: Sufficient turnover.
RWA: Real World Assets.
Issuer: A legally established company that provides off-chain credit for antiques and is responsible for the on-chain issuance of antique coins.
Holder: The owner of the antique, also the holder of the corresponding on-chain antique coins. Collectively referred to as the Holder.
AMM: Automated Market Maker.
Equity Token: Represents ownership of the antique.
Yield-Generating Token: Represents the interest generated from the natural appreciation of the antique’s value.
Liquidity Pool: The foundation of AMM operation, typically composed of a trading pair such as antique tokens and stablecoins.
LP (Liquidity Provider): Liquidity Provider tokens can be understood as “liquidity vouchers,” similar to bank deposit certificates.
1. Off-Chain Trust Required for Token Issuance via RWA
1.1 Establishing Off-Chain Credit is Key to the Success of Antique RWA
Antiques are assets highly compatible with Bitcoin’s characteristics and can adopt similar methods for token issuance. Current relevant technologies are quite mature and effective.
The off-chain credit of stablecoins is often questioned regarding over-issuance. Major stablecoins alleviate market doubts by disclosing their off-chain assets and undergoing third-party audits. Stablecoins themselves are a type of RWA project, with the US dollar as their underlying asset. Trust establishment is relatively simple, depending primarily on whether there are sufficient US dollar reserves.
The off-chain trust for gold is much more complex, as it involves physical objects similar to antiques. Trust establishment in gold trading relies on multi-layered mechanisms, including physical verification, market regulation, technical means, and legal frameworks.
Antique RWA is divided into on-chain and off-chain parts. Once on-chain, they become tokens, relying on transparent and immutable ledgers, primarily requiring technical trust, which is relatively mature. If antiques are used as the underlying asset for issuing antique coins, meeting multiple requirements such as technology, law, valuation, and compliance will foster a huge on-chain antique market. The key to success lies in establishing off-chain trust.
1.2 Off-Chain Requirements for Using Antiques as RWA Underlying Assets
Issuer: Provides off-chain credit for antiques, is a legally established antique coin issuance company. Acting as an intermediary, it bears the responsibility of providing credit. The issuer’s powers and responsibilities are diverse and will be detailed subsequently.
Holder: The owner of the antique and the corresponding antique coins, simply referred to as the Holder.
1.2.1 Credit Provision
Holder: Provides antique-related documents and provides collateral of at least equivalent value, subject to issuer approval (excluding undiscovered defects), to issue tokens. The collateral requires payment of custodial fees.
Issuer: Under the condition of approving the holder’s antique, credit transfers to the issuer. The issuer provides an unlimited guarantee with all its own assets.
Since the issuer itself is usually a massive antique holder, using this method can significantly simplify processes and costs, making it feasible for the public to issue tokens through antiques. The issuer’s issuance fees essentially imply a provision for bad debt losses similar to banks.
1.2.2 Guarantee Liability
1) Authenticity Warranty:
Antiques with author names: Provides a 5-year authenticity guarantee. If authoritatively identified as counterfeit, a full refund (or antiques of equivalent value) is available. Disputes require legal proceedings and a court judgment (must be raised within the 5-year period). The refund amount is based on the interests obtained by the holder and the issuer, sharing liability.
For Unsigned Antiques: Provides a 5-year dating guarantee. If authoritatively identified with dating errors, a full refund (or antiques of equivalent value) is available. Disputes require legal proceedings and a court judgment (must be raised within the 5-year period).
The issuer can declare that it does not guarantee certain aspects, such as whether the author is correct, or it can declare that it is only responsible for the dating.
Reference is made to Christie’s “Authenticity Guarantee Plan,” which covers the warranty responsibility for all lots.
2) Item Condition Guarantee:
Expressed Defects in the Collateral: (e.g., marked as “19th-century porcelain, rim restored”). The holder is most familiar with the antique’s condition; losses caused by undescribed defects are the holder’s responsibility.
Undiscovered Defects: Exempt from liability. Unless intentional concealment can be proven (requires legal evidence), confirmation leads to full compensation including attorney fees.
Time Limit: Defects disputes must be raised within 1 year, invalid after expiration.
1.2.3 Applicable Law
Hong Kong Common Law applies. This legal system originates from English common law, introduced since 1841 during British colonial rule. Its core characteristics are “stare decisis” and “judge-made law.”
1.2.4 Clarifying Antique Ownership and Legitimacy
Clear property rights: The holder must ensure the antique’s source is legal, providing corresponding proof (e.g., purchase contract, inheritance documents, customs records), excluding smuggled, looted, or disputed assets.
Export Compliance: If involving Chinese cultural relics, the holder must comply with the export regulations of the “Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Relics” (e.g., relics before 1911 are prohibited from export), avoiding asset recovery due to illegal circulation.
International Conventions: The holder must comply with international rules such as the UNESCO 1970 Convention, ensuring the antique is not listed as illegally trafficked.
1.3 Requirements for the Issuer
The issuer is the credit provider and needs to cover physical verification, token issuance, market supervision, and legal compliance. An ideal issuer should be one or a group of well-known antique collectors in the industry, whose own assets are sufficient to guarantee the issuance business, thus simplifying the problem.
The issuer is a company. It should possess functions including exhibition space, collection, secure storage, testing, valuation, offline matching transactions, and on-chain issuance.
Currently, there is a lack of insurance companies providing authenticity guarantees for antiques in the industry. If the issuer can provide reinsurance for such insurance, the entire business logic would be smoother.
The antiques held by major collectors are of immense value. Leveraging their guarantee function is key to the project’s success. These assets themselves possess extremely high credit value.
2. Principles of On-Chain Design for the Antique Market
The on-chain design of antiques involves cryptocurrency and on-chain finance. Relevant cryptocurrency technologies are mature. This article adopts the AMM (Automated Market Maker) trading model, supporting both anonymous and real-name transactions. To avoid money laundering accusations, restrictions will be placed on anonymous quotas, including methods like small-amount anonymity and subsequent aggregation.
On-chain transfers out are monitored by KYT (Know Your Transaction). Therefore, the antique mini-program will mark anonymous accounts participating in mixers or transferring into the antique mini-program as suspicious accounts and will no longer accept transfers from such accounts. Similarly, accounts already marked as suspicious by KYT will also not be accepted for transfers into the antique mini-program. KYT is a mature on-chain tracking tool, and our actions aim to ensure legality and compliance. The design of financial issues determines the success or failure of the project. This section mainly discusses financial issues related to tokens.
2.1 Several Simple Token Issuance Models
Equity Token: Represents ownership of the antique.
Yield Generating Token: Represents only the interest generated from the natural appreciation of the antique’s value.
2.1.1 “Bond” Model
The so-called “Bond” model refers to “principal-guaranteed” interest payment. The antique is mortgaged to the issuer, and yield tokens are issued. According to the natural appreciation indicators for high-quality antiques defined in the article “Redefining the Valuation Indicators of Antiques,” any interest that does not exceed the natural appreciation of the antique is reasonable.
This model is similar to corporate bond issuance. Yield tokens are tradable. At issuance, the issuer has an assessed value. Tokens equal to the assessed value are issued, and yield tokens pay interest annually. Through different scheme designs, interest can be paid in fiat currency or the same yield tokens. The ownership of the antique does not transfer, and future appreciation belongs to the holder. Corporate bonds carry the risk of company bankruptcy, while well-preserved antiques pose lower risk than corporate bonds. For bronzes, which are not easily damaged, they can be considered AAA-rated bonds.
This business model will directly impact the bond market due to its lower risk and higher return. The principle is that antique tokens are not air tokens but are hard currency backed by assets, capable of outperforming inflation in the long run.
2.1.2 “Stock” Model
Not all antiques have accurate valuations, especially large projects like “priceless treasures,” whose value is the result of long-term market transactions.
Since the price is formed in market transactions, such tokens represent ownership of the project.
The issuance space should conform to cryptocurrency practices, with at least a 10-fold growth space from early to mature stages. The initial issuance can be very small, and after the first batch is sold and the price stabilizes, a second batch can be issued. Cryptocurrency accounts are transparent, and using AMM trading makes market manipulation more difficult than the order book model.
After equity tokens are fully distributed, they can also pay interest. At this point, token holders can obtain not only interest but also the potential for future antique appreciation. Future competition in antique token prices will also include competition in the amount of interest distributed.
Typically, token interest payments affect the total token issuance. After the token issuance is completed, it exhibits characteristics similar to the “Bond” model, namely anti-inflation characteristics.
The issuer also needs to conduct roadshows, attracting institutional investors with different preferences at different stages.
This issuance model has variants, which will be introduced in the “Most Promising Appreciation Models” section below.
2.1.3 Commodity Model
This is the auction method currently used in the antique market. In Hong Kong, auctioneers need to apply for a license from Customs (annual fee about HKD 2,000), and auctioning Grade I antiquities requires approval from the Authority on Antiquities. All related work is undertaken by the issuer, who charges a one-time fee of about 15% of the auction price.
2.1.4 Antique Coin Index Fund Model
Establishing an Antique Index ETF fund listed on a US stock exchange is a sign of the maturity of the antique market.
2.2 AMM Automated Market Maker Token Issuance Model
2.2.1 Automated Market Maker
AMM (Automated Market Maker) is a protocol operating in Decentralized Exchanges (DEX). It automatically executes trades through algorithms rather than traditional order books. Users trade directly with a liquidity pool (composed of tokens provided by users), and asset prices are determined by mathematical formulas. The core mathematical principle is based on the Constant Function Market Maker (CFMM) model, most commonly the Constant Product Formula. Taking the simplest liquidity pool of two tokens as an example, the mathematical expression is as follows:
X × Y = k
Where:
X represents the quantity of Token A
Y represents the quantity of Token B
k is a constant (constant product)
Mathematical principle during trading:
When the quantity of X increases, the quantity of Y decreases correspondingly to keep k constant: X × Y = k.
This means that as trading proceeds, the token price changes dynamically based on the quantity in the pool. The larger the trade volume, the more significant the price slippage, i.e., the larger the trading spread. Slippage is the difference between the execution price and the expected price, occurring in market orders, especially when market prices change rapidly.
Example:
You want to buy a currency pair at an exchange rate of 1.02100, but the market fluctuates violently. The moment you place the order, the price has become 1.02155. Then this $0.055$ point difference is the slippage.
Liquidity Addition
After the initial liquidity pool is set up by the token holder and capital provider, if the asset is favored, liquidity can be added by forming trading pairs at the current price, and the system will issue LP tokens.
Explanation of LP Tokens
LP (Liquidity Provider) tokens can be understood as “liquidity vouchers,” similar to bank deposit certificates. When you provide assets to the liquidity pool, you receive LP tokens corresponding to the proportion of your contributed assets.
Mechanism of LP Token Value Affected by Market Trading:
Transaction Fee Mechanism: Each transaction charges a fixed percentage fee (usually 0.15%-0.3%). These fees are distributed proportionally to LP token holders.
The more active the trading, the higher the value of LP tokens.
Price Change Impact
When the token price in the liquidity pool changes, the value of LP tokens adjusts accordingly. If the token price in the pool rises, the LP token value increases; conversely, if the price falls, the LP token value decreases.
Impermanent Loss
When the relative price of tokens in the pool changes, LPs may incur more losses compared to simply holding the tokens. This loss is called “impermanent loss.”It is also a non-permanent loss. Since the token is backed by assets, the risk is much smaller than that of unbacked cryptocurrencies.
Example:
Assume you provide 1 ETH and 2000 USDC in an ETH/USDC pool.
Receive LP tokens corresponding to your share.
As the market trades, your LP tokens continuously adjust in value based on trading volume and price changes.
In summary, LP tokens are equity certificates for liquidity providers, and their value dynamically reflects market trading and asset price changes.
2.2.2 Automated Market Maker Model
In cryptocurrency trading innovation, UNISWAP created the Automated Market Maker (AMM) model.
For antiques with not extremely high value but good liquidity, such as imperial porcelain, calligraphy, and paintings, which are easily priced by the market, if users do not want to go through auction houses (due to hassle or potentially not achieving their ideal valuation), this model can be adopted.
The holder provides an estimated value for the antique,假设为10万美元. The plan is to issue 100,000 tokens (85,000 for circulation, 15,000 held by the holder). The liquidity pool can be assembled at one-tenth of this value. That is: 10,000 USDT / 85,000 tokens, resulting in an initial antique token price of 0.1176 USDT.
If the holder cannot provide the 10,000 USDT, they can apply for cooperation with the company or seek funders in the market (one or several people), who provide the cash liquidity. The system completes this financing through a guarantee contract. Both parties jointly form the liquidity pool.
This method is transparent and fair, helping to solve the price discovery problem for antiques.
Benefits for Both Parties:
Token Holder: Enables tokens to enter market circulation without capital outlay, with a low price that easily attracts users. Also earns transaction fees. Their LP liquidity tokens are non-withdrawable until 80% (i.e., 68,000) of their 85,000 tokens have been sold from the pool and entered retail wallets. According to AMM calculation rules, if someone wants to buy out this 80% alone, the cost required is at least about $50,000 (calculated based on the constant product model: initial product 85,000 × 10,000 = 850,000,000. When 85,000 tokens are at 20%, which is 17,000 tokens, the amount of U is 850,000,000 / 17,000 = 50,000). The holder nets a profit of about $40,000.
Funder: Can share transaction fees.
The funds in the liquidity pool carry low risk because as antique tokens are sold, the stablecoin in the pool increases. Therefore, providing liquidity is a steady, profitable business. The customary distribution of fees is an equal split of 0.15%-0.3% between both parties, or it can be exclusively enjoyed by the liquidity pool fund provider.
What to do with the remaining tokens?
Since it’s impossible to buy all 85% (the price becomes more expensive towards the end, the average price might be dozens of times the initial price, quickly reaching the holder’s psychological price), according to the constant product formula calculation, when only 10,000 tokens remain in the pool, the value of the U pool will reach 85,000, quickly approaching the holder’s psychological price.
The above process is a relatively fair market pricing process, a result verified by the cryptocurrency market. While AMM currently underperforms centralized exchanges in high-frequency trading, it has shown marketization advantages in low-frequency trading.
2.2.3 Entering the Auction Process
After the commodity reaches the estimated market value through market trading, the issuer will put the commodity on the auction block. Simultaneously, the token system locks its circulation function, meaning tokens cannot be traded or transferred.
The auction reserve price is the current token market capitalization. If the auction fails, trading reopens within a stipulated time, tokens resume circulation, and the collection is repriced. At this point, the market, aware of the failed auction, will naturally start selling the tokens, and the collection’s valuation will be rewritten. The issuer and holder need to negotiate a revaluation, potentially repricing the collection within 15 days of reopening trading, repeating the initial process, waiting for the market cap to reach its assessed value. If the price remains firm with no selling, no intervention is needed. If the market cap remains high, the second auction will start at the assessed price.
After the auction is completed, the liquidity pool establishers need to withdraw the pool. At this point, the token holder is profitable because their LP tokens have significantly appreciated.
Settlement of Rights:
The new buyer transfers the auction payment to the designated exchange contract.
Users who have purchased the token on the market can go to exchange transactions.
If the auction price is higher than the market cap, all token buyers profit. If lower, the last batch of buyers may incur losses, while earlier buyers may still profit.
All token holders must exchange; the exchange window is permanently open because the funds are already in the contract.
The new and old antique holders need to sign a contract, guaranteed by the issuer to complete the rights transfer.
The original holder needs to first return the 10,000 USDT corresponding to the LP in the liquidity pool to the funder, then transfer 7.5% of the remaining profit to the issuer as a fee.
After settlement is completed, the issuer will assist the new holder in conducting a secondary token issuance. Holders of the old tokens can only exchange through the contract and can no longer make any transfers.
2.3 Financial Principles of Antique Appreciation
2.3.1 Supply and Demand Determine Long-Term Value
Antiques are commodities, and their price increase is determined by supply and demand. Continuously reducing supply is the method adopted by Bitcoin.
Staking for yield has been repeatedly successful in the cryptocurrency field and is a method tested by practice.
Similar antiques compete in interest payment. A reasonable interest rate should not exceed their natural appreciation (inflation level).
Of course, the issuance method is crucial for maintaining long-term trends, discussed further below.
2.3.2 Speculation Determines Short-Term Price
Short-term prices are determined by speculative activity. If options and futures trading are opened, short-term prices will be determined by the derivatives market. Price fluctuations attract speculators.
Antiques have price revaluation opportunities; changes in news can trigger speculator hype.
2.3.3 Expanding User Base Drives Price Increase
An expanding user base will push up the overall value of the antique industry.
2.3.4 Continuous Trading Drives Price Increase
Continuous trading helps enhance the overall value of the antique industry, far exceeding auction pricing.
2.3.5 Enhanced Credibility Drives Price Increase
The transparency and immutability brought by being on-chain enhance credibility, thereby increasing the overall value of the antique industry.
2.3.6 Off-Chain Guarantee Model Reduces Investment Risk
The off-chain guarantee model reduces investment risk, creates the possibility of low risk and high return, and will stimulate capital inflow.
2.3.7 Price Rise Due to Shortage of Investment Targets
When antiques adopt new models, providing an outlet for cash lacking investment targets, it will stimulate capital inflow.
2.3.8 Narrative Change Leads to Token Revaluation
Like Bitcoin, the value of antiques is influenced by narrative; narrative changes customer perception. Bitcoin’s narrative shifted from “digital gold” to “US national reserve,” driving its rise. Antiques have historical and cultural characteristics, giving them a much wider narrative breadth than Bitcoin.
2.3.9 Venture Capital Issuance Logic Drives Token Price Increase
Bitcoin’s issuance follows venture capital logic, where profit accompanies risk, and early “miners” made huge fortunes. This logic has been proven successful. For antiques without exact price comparisons, one-time token issuance or auctions are not advisable.
2.3.10 High Valuation Premium in the Crypto Circle
The crypto circle is a gathering place for the younger generation, prone to accepting new things and tending to assign higher premiums to future things.
2.3.11 Liquidity Premium
The “non-standardized” nature of antiques (difficult to price, high transaction costs). The issuance of antique coins solves the problems of market pricing and insufficient liquidity, thereby generating a liquidity premium.
2.4 The Most Promising Appreciation Models
The “Bond” model has limited upside potential due to existing market benchmarks. It maximizes holder profit but market acceptance is unknown. The auction model is traditional with little short-term upside. The most potential lies in the “Stock” model, using multiple issuances, along with the following more aggressive models:
The stock model described in the previous section has no price cap. Although the total token supply is limited, the time to complete issuance is unpredictable (unlike Bitcoin’s issuance end being coded). The stock model suits the issuance of “priceless treasures.” For some antiques competing with priceless treasures, more aggressive strategies are needed to create a “bargain-hunting” effect.
2.4.1 Price-Reached Auction Strategy
If all predetermined tokens reach the estimated price agreed upon at issuance, the collection is publicly auctioned, regardless of whether they are fully sold. This allows investors to know the minimum profit their tokens can achieve. After a failed auction, it can be re-auctioned at a agreed time, or the price can be lowered for another auction.
2.4.2 Time-Based Auction
When the time specified by the collection holder arrives, regardless of whether all the tokens have been sold, the issuer will start the public auction of the collection. This is when there are more opportunities to find bargains.
2.4.3 Unrestricted Auction Price
After all predetermined tokens are fully sold, public auction of the collection begins.
2.4.4 Summary of Improved Auction Mechanisms
The principle of the above three models is to improve the existing auction mechanism. Because the current auction mechanism lacks a price basis and a sound price formation mechanism, the above improvements can produce relatively real prices.
2.4.5 Pick up bargains Model
The issuer can agree that when token circulation reaches 25%, a takeover offer can be announced. When the acquisition reaches 70%, the original holder must sell at least 15% of the tokens to the acquirer, completing the collection transfer. According to the constant product formula, the purchase price at this point may not reach the holder’s psychological price. Whether the market is willing to sell 70% of the tokens to the offeror is unknown. The bargain-hunting model also exists in the securities market.
2.5 Antique Token Price Formation Mechanism
According to Mises’ Regression Theorem, price is determined by交易. In the stock market, moving averages and trading volume are the results of trading, with annual, monthly lines, etc. For antiques, changes in fundamentals can be ignored, so the indicative role of technical indicators is better than stocks (stocks have fundamental changes).
If there are only auctions, the price discovery mechanism for antiques is insufficient. Therefore, issuing antique tokens in multiple stages is beneficial for antique price discovery. Only staged issuance can form an effective large trading market.
Stocks, gold, and Bitcoin have trading markets, while antiques mainly only have an auction market, lacking an influential global trading market.
Adding a continuous trading process to antique buying and selling will make auction prices more realistic because the customer base is more sufficient. This is liquidity value-added.
2.6 Does Multiple Issuance of Antique Tokens Create an Ex-Rights Effect?
Issuing new shares in stocks creates an ex-rights effect, meaning new share issuance requires share price adjustment. The principle is that stocks represent the company’s profit value. When profits remain unchanged, issuing new shares inevitably dilutes earnings per share, reducing earnings per share, so the stock needs revaluation, called ex-rights. However, capital raised from the issuance may bring new profits, leading to a stock price recovery.
Antique tokens have no profits and do not require similar corporate value revaluation. The growth in antique value is a function of time. Although no ex-rights is needed, token issuance changes supply and demand, potentially causing price declines. Therefore, new token issuance should have a lock-up period and adopt a linear release method during the lock-up period, corresponding to the time-function characteristic of antiques. This avoids a supply sudden surge causing a price crash.
Unreleased antique tokens do not pay interest.
2.7 Principles of Staking for Yield
Staking for yield is a common method for locking tokens in cryptocurrency, which is unreasonable for air tokens but reasonable for antique tokens.
2.7.1 Rationale of Staking for Yield
Antique tokens themselves do not generate profits; their value comes from the underlying asset. As long-term investments, according to the argument in “Redefining the Valuation Indicators of Antiques,” high-quality antiques can outperform inflation and gold. Therefore, such antique tokens have the potential to yield interest. Since interest distribution requires staking tokens, it reduces supply, thereby helping to increase the token price.
2.7.2 Distribution Principles for Yield-Generating Tokens
Yield-generating tokens are issued using antique tokens. Before the total tokens are fully issued, they occupy the total token quota. After all tokens are issued, new issuance methods are needed. These two methods have different impacts on the token price.
Since antique tokens are native tokens, inflation is measured against the fiat currency standard. Excessive issuance of antique tokens might exceed the inflation rate. As long as the issuance rate of yield-generating tokens does not exceed the inflation rate, it does not create additional inflation. Issuing at 75% of the estimated annual inflation rate should be fine. At this point, token appreciation might make antique coin returns outperform inflation.
This method of issuance is generally not recommended. A better practice is, after all tokens are issued, distributing tokens should be considered a “dividend.” A similar action in cryptocurrency is token burning.
2.7.3 Distribution Methods for Yield-Generating Tokens
Directly reference fiat currency interest standards, divided into three months, half a year, and one year, with different interest rates.
2.7.4 Issuance Fees for Yield-Generating Tokens
Antique token issuance typically has a fee of 3.5%-7.5% (including agency fees). Yield-generating tokens do not require an agent, so there is no agency fee, only a 0.9% issuer fee.
2.8 Discussion on Issuing Antique Tokens
The Bitcoin system’s design of limiting total supply, reducing issuance量, and halving every four years determines its long-term upward trend. The Bitcoin system involves three concepts: limited total supply, periodic supply reduction, and a four-year halving cycle. These are discussed below.
2.8.1 Antiques Do Not Require a Four-Year Cycle Design
The four-year cycle is Bitcoin’s unique design. The biggest change within four years might be the US political situation, but Bitcoin’s cycle is not precisely four years. Research into Satoshi Nakamoto’s intent suggests using a four-year cycle to balance different economic cycles. What if it were designed as two years or one year halving? The effect of a利好 every two or one year might be better than four years. Of course, this would affect the halving calculation.
Regarding cycles, the stock market’s annual line is sufficient to reflect trend changes. Gold is also calculated annually, without a four-year cycle. Similar to gold, antiques should not consider a four-year cycle issue.
2.8.2 Adopt a Limited Total Supply
Limiting the total supply provides certainty. Because antiques, like Bitcoin, have no drastic fundamental changes. Stocks cannot limit total supply due to fundamental changes. Gold’s total supply cannot be limited, adding uncertainty, which is gold’s flaw. Therefore, antique token issuance should learn from Bitcoin and limit the total supply.
2.8.3 Should the Issuance be Deflationary?
Bitcoin had a large early issuance, later reduced, with the first cycle issuing half. This issuance was based on no clear valuation basis. One meaning of deflationary issuance is creating a halving利好. Another benefit is reaching the total supply sooner, reducing one uncertainty of Bitcoin. By the end of 2024, about 19.8 million Bitcoins were mined, with about 5.7% remaining unmined, equivalent to about one year’s fiat inflation rate, which is sufficiently certain.
For venture capital projects, seed round investments can have tens of thousands of times returns, angel rounds thousands of times, Series A maybe dozens of times. By the IPO stage, even short-term, doubling is very good. Bitcoin’s increase conforms to venture capital规律. Listed companies in the stock market are relatively mature enterprises, conforming to capital market valuation logic, and are not venture capital projects.
Antiques have a relatively clear valuation expectation. If issued deflationarily, issuing half in the first period would make the price very low, not producing a venture capital effect, and hardly attracting speculators. The success of cryptocurrency owes much to speculators; without sufficient profit for speculation, the project won’t succeed.
Large-cap stock profits are predictable; earnings reports exceeding expectations drive stock prices up; gold also has expected prices. Stock issuance is not deflationary; gold is unlimited.
Antiques have a clear psychological valuation expectation, seemingly not requiring deflationary issuance. Instead, they should be issued from small to large quantities. Small initial issuance benefits price discovery and increase, forming price steps, finally completing the entire token issuance, reaching the holder’s satisfactory psychological price. That is, the closer to the market valuation, the more tokens are issued.
Contrary to Bitcoin issuance, antique coin issuance is expansive and should present a conical diffusion shape.
2.8.4 Is Periodic Token Issuance Necessary?
Bitcoin is issued according to a predetermined cycle. Stocks have no fixed issuance cycle because their profits are uncertain; issuance (or additional issuance) can occur whenever it benefits value growth. For antiques with a clear psychological valuation expectation, regular token issuance seems to offer higher certainty. Periodic token issuance might be more appropriate. In section 2.8.3, we opposed deflationary issuance but still believe it should be issued periodically. But this cycle is not a time cycle.
2.8.5 What Constitutes a Cycle Period
Antiques have a clear psychological valuation expectation, and their value change is influenced by market heat. Issuing according to a fixed time cycle might not match market heat. Therefore, the number of issuances and the amount each time can be predetermined, but the specific issuance time is best not fixed.
2.9 Handling Antique Transfers
Antiques involve both physical objects and tokens, both having ownership transfer issues.
2.9.1 Transfer of Antique Ownership
When someone holds 70% of the tokens, antique ownership transfer is triggered. The original holder surrenders 15% of the tokens they hold. The new holder needs to deposit funds corresponding to 15% of the tokens into the exchange contract account opened by the issuer. The original holder transfers the tokens into the contract. Retail token holders exchange for U through the contract. The issuer has already received 70% of the payment beforehand. The remaining 15% of tokens held by the issuer, if not wanted, can be directly transferred to the new holder holding 70%, or the exchange contract proportion can be increased to 30%. User tokens might always follow, but the tokens of the original antique holder need to be transfered. The issuer is responsible for token destruction and antique ownership transfer. The original antique holder pays 7.5% as a fee, and the new antique holder pays 7.5% (when the transaction amount is above $100 million, each party pays 3.25%). This fee is the issuer’s income, considered a transfer fee.
Handling of the antique holder’s 15% tokens: The original tokens can also be replaced with new tokens issued by the new holder.
2.9.2 Full Acquisition
This concept is borrowed from the stock market. When token issuance reaches 70%, a full acquisition clause can be triggered. The issuer agrees that when token circulation reaches 25%, the new holder can announce a full acquisition offer. When the acquisition reaches 70%, the original antique holder must sell at least 15% of the tokens to the acquirer, thus reaching a total token holding of 85%, completing the collection transfer. The antique holder must commit when issuing antique tokens whether they support full acquisition. If not supported, it lacks complete property right transfer characteristics, theoretically lowering the valuation.
2.10 Cycle Pricing for Antique Token Issuance
Tokens are issued in cycles. How to price them specifically is discussed below.
2.10.1 Pricing Philosophy
The most common current method for antique issuance is auction. How should on-chain pricing be considered? Current antique valuation is determined by experts or expert buyers in the long-term operation of the auction market, having reference significance. But different markets have different customer groups, whose preferences determine pricing.
The cryptocurrency market is a highly speculative emerging market. Issuing antique tokens in this market should conform to its rules. Gold is a mature product and market. Antique token issuance is an emerging market, so antique coins should provide more returns to market participants, helping to establish the on-chain antique market.
Using mature market valuation principles is not suitable for the emerging antique coin market.
2.10.2 Establishing the Antique Coin Market
In cryptocurrency investment, a winning rule followed by both traders and long-term holders is “buy early.” Because cryptocurrency is listed early, It has the characteristics of seed capital investment. That is, there is no clear valuation. But antiques have a relatively clear valuation; antique coins are equivalent to IPO issuance, usually having several times the increase, generally not having the seed round’s bubble up. Considering factors in the crypto circle, designing for several times increase might conform to IPO logic.
Referring to cryptocurrency characteristics, early issuers of antique coins must be idealistic people to accept this “unfairness” and contribute to building the antique coin market. As mentioned in section 2.1.2 “Stock” model: “The issuance space should conform to cryptocurrency habits, from early to mature, having at least 10-fold growth space.” In the table below, according to linear issuance rules, a $100 million valued antique designed for a 10-fold increase would only give the shareholder holder a total income of $66.86 million, with $32.24 million being a contribution to building the emerging antique coin market. If designed for a 3-fold increase, the holder can obtain $78.75 million in income. See Table 1.
2.10.3 Explanation of the Issuance Table
Table 1 has 10 issuance cycles, the first issuance is 5%, the last is 21%. Since 15% of tokens are ultimately not issued, the actual last round issued 6%. Therefore, without an antique transfer, the actual cash obtained is about over $50 million. The time span of 10 cycles is uncertain, maybe one year, maybe ten years, completely depending on market heat.
Figure 1 shows the changes in issuance volume per period, aligning with the idea that Bitcoin’s first three cycles are accumulation periods, and the 4th cycle is the inflection point entering rapid growth, thus guaranteeing most of the holder’s interests.
Figure 2 shows the changes in issuance volume and price. It can be seen that the token price in this chart rises at a 45-degree angle, which is the ideal state of volume-price coordination.
2.10.4 Pump’s Fee Logic
Pump is a very popular token issuance platform on the Solana public chain. The antique mini-program references their issuance logic. Users issuing tokens on the Pump platform follow unified rules and pricing. For example:
User A issues a token on Pump, needs to first issue 1 billion tokens, each priced at about 0.000000002 SOL (SOL is the token unit of the Solana chain, current value about $145, highly volatile). After issuance, other users can start buying and selling.
The price is proportional to the market buy volume. Once market buying increases, the price rises accordingly, until retail investors cumulative buy tokens worth 85 SOL. According to the mathematical algorithm, at this point 20% of the 1 billion tokens (i.e., 200 million) remain in the Pump pool, 80% have been bought by retail.
Pump then launches the listing process, using the remaining 20% of tokens on the market (200 million) and the 79 SOL it received (85 SOL minus 6 SOL listing fee) to form a trading pair, listing on Swap to start public trading.
Therefore, the listing fee is about 7%.
This issuance model suits air tokens; 85 SOL is a fixed amount, insufficient for pricing antiques.
2.10.5 Next Steps for Issuing Antique Tokens Using the Pump Method
According to antique pricing theory (small first, then large), using one-tenth of the value for the liquidity pool is possible.
For fees, 7% initially is acceptable, but subsequent rounds should charge 3.5%.
Need to replace SOL with the stablecoin USDT.
That is, customize and transform Pump.
Use the following plan:
1. The holder signs a contract with the issuer. The issuer grants the holder token issuance permission. The holder can log into the newly developed Antique Pump platform to issue tokens.
2. The holder sets the issuance quantity, custom price, custom token trading lock conditions. After assessment confirms no issues, the holder issues the tokens.
3. When the circulation conditions are met, the tokens on the market are locked, entering the auction phase.
4. After settlement to the auction buyer, the new holder can repeat the above process.
The advantage of this plan is that all user tokens and funds are in the hands of the Antique Pump platform (chainless). Token exchange can be centralized. After auction completion, one-click automatic conversion and delisting of tokens. This model does not require forming a liquidity pool; the entire process requires no capital from any party. The market directly prices the commodity through buying and selling.
The handling fee can be set at 1%.
The above belongs to a new mini-program. The original Pump is for issuing air tokens. The Antique Pump is a customized mini-program for issuing RWA. We can customize its fee standards. Initially, for external cooperative issuance, it can be similar to platforms like Jiuding.
3. Legal Responsibilities Related to Issuing Antique Tokens
3.1 Pure Antique Auctions
Antique transfer involving physical auctions requires traditional auction licenses:
According to Hong Kong’s “Auctioneers Ordinance,” if auctioning antiques (e.g., porcelain, calligraphy, paintings) in physical form, an auctioneer license must be applied for from Hong Kong Customs, complying with the “Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance” (for specific monuments).
3.2 Issuance of Antique Tokens
On March 20, 2025, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would no longer appeal cases against companies. This is a landmark event, indicating a relaxation in securities认定. The rise of meme coins in 2024 benefited from Ripple’s partial court victory in 2024, as the court then considered user purchasing behavior on exchanges not符合 securities purchasing behavior. The meme coin issued by President Trump in 2024 was also deemed not a security. The best comparison is gold.
PAX Gold (PAXG) and Tether Gold (XAUT): Because they are directly anchored to physical gold, with no active management or profit承诺, US regulators tend to classify them as commodities.
Securitized Tokens: If the project generates profits through gold reserves and distributes them (e.g., dividends), or the token value relies on the issuer’s operations (e.g., gold mining), they may be identified as securities.
The antique tokens designed in this article involve interest income. Will they be identified as securities? From cryptocurrency practice, staking tokens for yield is a commonly used method (including Ethereum’s staking for yield and burning). Tokens using such methods have mostly not been identified as securities. Based on case law, the antique tokens designed in this article are unlikely to be identified as securities.
3.3 Trading of Antique Tokens
If antique tokens (e.g., issued as NFTs or RWA tokens) are traded through a platform, a VASP license must be applied for according to Hong Kong’s 2023 “Virtual Asset Service Provider Licensing System” (regulated by the SFC).
Reading the SFC document fully, trading platforms mainly refer to centralized exchanges. Decentralized exchanges (like UNISWAP and Pump.fun) are not restricted by VASP licenses. Therefore, this design adopts a decentralized structure. Moreover, the antique coin program is a mini-program on a chainless platform. The front-end operator (the chainless platform) is the service provider and still needs to comply with some VASP obligations like anti-money laundering and user protection. As a mini-program, by limiting the token quantity per account (e.g., initial value not exceeding $100,000), and adopting two methods for transferring out of the antique coin mini-program: on-chain transfer out is transparent and easily tracked by KYT technology; chainless platform transfer out bears AML responsibility by the chainless platform.
3.4 Antique Token Mini-Program Does Not Accept Fiat Currency
No MSB license required.
3.5 Compliance Responsibility Lies with the Chainless Platform
Real-name KYC verification is responsible by the chainless platform, associated with the chainless platform’s wallet. If only using anonymous accounts, the annual deposit amount must not exceed $100,000 to avoid triggering money laundering regulations. Exceeding $100,000 requires KYC and AML certification.
“Reporting the fund source for single transactions over $100,000” is an anti-money laundering regulation. We implement this standard.
4. “AAA”-Rated Antique Tokens
From the discussion in this article, it can be seen that the design of these antique tokens satisfies the three principles of RWA design: Off-chain authoritative guarantee + On-chain transparency + Legal backup. Risk cannot be completely excluded under any circumstances. The chainless platform and antique mini-program are new, and credit needs to be tested by time.
After the above improvements, antique tokens become a new asset class, exhibiting different characteristics from traditional antiques. Table 2 compares their core characteristics with gold. It can be seen that after being on-chain, antiques possess on-chain credit like Bitcoin. Off-chain credit is provided by authoritative, idealistic, and faithful enthusiasts in the industry in the form of a company. Antique tokens will use cryptocurrency valuation methods to reflect the value of antiques.
| Metric | Gold (Spot) | Antiques (Top-tier Collectibles) | Collector Coins |
| Annual Return | 4%–6% (since 1971) | 8%–15% (top 0.1% only) | Similar to Antiques |
| Volatility | 15%⁓20% | 40%⁓60% | Significantly reduced |
| Liquidity | T+0 Global Trading | Auction cycle 6-8 months | T+0 Global Trading |
| Minimum Entry | 1 gram (≈ ¥500) | Auction deposit | $1 USD |
| Holding Cost | 0.1%–0.5% (custodian fee) | 2%–5% (storage + insurance) | Issued by |
| Price Transparency | Globally uniform pricing | Non-standard, opaque pricing | Globally uniform pricing |
| Counterfeit Risk | None | Over 90% of circulating items are fakes | Authenticity guaranteed by issuer |
| Policy Risk | Low (except special controls) | High, cultural relic import/export risk | High |
| Inflation Hedge | Exceeds CPI long-term | Top items exceed Gold | Top items exceed Gold |
| Optimal Holding Period | 5–10 years | 20–30 years | 20–30 years |
| Yield | No | No | Yes |
| Transparency | Low | Very Low | High |
| Market Maturity | Mature | Mature | Growing |
Antique tokens do not require separate rating; only the issuing company needs rating. Those issued by the highest credit grade (e.g., AAA) companies are AAA-rated antique tokens. National bonds are still credit bonds, and their rating may actually be lower than antique tokens fully guaranteed by physical assets. Treasury bond interest is the market interest benchmark, the lowest interest income. The interest income generated through抵押 by antique tokens is expected to be higher than treasury bond interest, backed by physical assets. Gold has credit higher than the state, but gold cannot generate interest income like antique coins.
Technological development has brought authentication technology to a new height. Judging the authenticity and age of antiques by combining technological means and expert experience is no longer extremely difficult. The protectors of antiques, like the earliest Bitcoin miners, are pioneers and also the lucky ones, who will gain due wealth and no longer “beg with a golden bowl.”
If this view reaches consensus, the assets worth trillions left by ancestors will be activated, the value of ancient civilizations will be revalued, and historical and cultural heritage will be revalued. Inheritance will unify ancient and modern times.
Postscript:
This article is a sequel to “Redefining the Valuation Indicators of Antiques” and “Possibly One of China’s Most Valuable Antiques”. This series of articles is published on the Chainless website. The financial principles of antique on-chain are only a universal analysis focusing on theoretical analysis. The issuance rules of the antique mini-program may differ from this article, subject to the mini-program’s announcement.
