Disruption and Reshaping of Traditional Wealth Management Intermediary Models by Decentralized Finance (DeFi): A Case Study of the Hong Kong Market

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-801-6_19How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Decentralized Finance; Wealth Management; Real-World Assets; Tokenization; Hong Kong Market

Abstract

The paper explores how the traditional wealth management intermediary model is disrupted and restructured by Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and how it can apply to the highly regulated Hong Kong market in particular. Centralized counterparties have long been used in wealth management, which leads to the high transaction costs and settlement delays. On the one hand, the technical efficiency of pure DeFi is achieved due to smart contracts; on the other hand, it is not as strictly regulated as traditional financial institutions. In order to solve this issue, the current paper explores the emergence of Centralized-Decentralized Finance (CeDeFi) and tokenization of Real-World Assets (RWA). The research provides the impact of decentralized architecture on the market using a multi-case study, including internal trans-formation (e.g., CPIC), infrastructural disruption (e.g., HashKey Group), and demand-side pull (e.g., VMS Group). The results highlight that the obvious regulatory framework in Hong Kong helps to reduce the underlying risks of DeFi to the prospects of organized innovation. In turn, this paper hypothesizes that a synergistic CeDeFi model can be the future of wealth management in regulated jurisdictions. Such a model requires active change on the part of the traditional institutions and strict adherence to DeFi innovators. The study provides important strategic implications to industry stakeholders interested in realizing the potential of decentralization without sacrificing its stability and trust by mapping this journey of practical transition.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Jiayang Wu
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/23
TI  - Disruption and Reshaping of Traditional Wealth Management Intermediary Models by Decentralized Finance (DeFi): A Case Study of the Hong Kong Market
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 2nd International Conference on Financial Innovation and Marketing Management (FIMM 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 161
EP  - 173
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-801-6_19
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-801-6_19
ID  - Wu2026
ER  -