A cargo ship sails from Singapore to China. Traditional routes require high transit fees and time costs, but now it can go directly to Yangpu Port in Hainan and enter China, the world's largest consumer market, duty-free after adding value of more than 30%.
On December 18, 2025, 'The Wind Comes from the Sea' - Hainan Free Trade Port officially launched full island closure operations. This is not a self-isolation of an island, but an unprecedented institutional opening characterized by 'lifting restrictions in the first line, controlling in the second line, and freedom within the island.' More than 6,600 types of goods will enjoy 'zero tariff,' with the tax rate level rising to 74%.
At the same time, a new entity aimed at reshaping global value flow rules—decentralized finance (DeFi) and its core stablecoins (such as USDD)—is exploring new paradigms for cross-border settlement and asset circulation globally. The two seem parallel but converge on the ultimate proposition of 'exploring more efficient and lower-cost global collaboration.'
01 The Essence of Customs Closure: From 'Geographical Hub' to 'Rule Innovation Hub'
Many people simply compare Hainan with Singapore and Hong Kong, which is a misunderstanding. Singapore's success stems from its geographical advantage of controlling the Strait of Malacca and decades of accumulated mature financial services; it functions like an efficient 'five-star transit hotel'.
Hainan's answer is completely different. It holds the 'institutional innovation' granted by the state and the vast inland market behind it. Its core weapon is a policy known as 'processing value-added over 30% exempt from tariffs.' This means that global raw materials can be substantially processed in Hainan, and as long as the value added exceeds 30%, they can enter the mainland with tax-exempt status. This directly undermines the foundation of traditional transit trade, transforming trade from 'passing through' to 'taking root.'
Data shows that policies have attracted a large number of enterprises. As of November 2025, the cumulative domestic sales value exceeded 11.4 billion yuan, with nearly 900 million yuan in tariff exemptions. Its goal is not to become another transit port but to become a new strategic hub connecting domestic and international dual cycles.
02 Financial Experimental Field: When Free Trade Ports Meet Digital Finance
After the customs closure, Hainan's flow of goods is equivalent to cross-border, generating a massive and efficient demand for new types of settlement. This is precisely the area where traditional finance and cutting-edge digital finance may collide and merge.
Although China takes a cautious attitude towards cryptocurrencies, Hainan, as a 'stress test site', has been exploring cutting-edge financial innovations. Its multifunctional free trade account (FT account) system provides institutional guarantees for the free and convenient flow of cross-border funds. Some analyses point out that this system even reserves exploration space for future compliant 'stablecoin-RMB' exchanges.
Authoritative scholars have clearly suggested: a 'Chinese solution' for stablecoins can be piloted in free trade zones such as Hainan, for example, establishing an offshore RMB stablecoin innovation pilot to explore trade settlement and financing applications based on on-chain stablecoins. This means that Hainan could become a pioneering experimental area connecting the traditional financial world and the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.
Decentralized dollars such as @usddio (USDD), which rely on blockchain technology and pursue value stability, resonate wonderfully with the spirit of Hainan's free trade port 'institutional openness', characterized by the transparent and efficient logic of 'code as rule'. They both represent an innovative attempt to address the existing complex and high-cost interaction models.
03 Future Landscape: Complementary Coexistence, Not Replacement
The rise of Hainan does not mean the decline of Singapore or Hong Kong. The CEO of the World Free Trade Zone Organization pointed out that Hainan is expected to become a globally competitive hub. The future landscape is more likely to be one of 'functional complementarity and dual hubs operating in parallel.'
Singapore will continue to leverage its mature financial and legal services and global network, focusing on high-end shipping and global resource allocation. Meanwhile, Hainan will rely on China's vast manufacturing industry and consumer market, focusing more on creating a core hub for the 'China-ASEAN' regional industrial chain, particularly playing a unique role in short-distance, high value-added processing and trade.
This complementarity is precisely a healthy trend of global economic multi-centralization and enhanced resilience. For businesses and ordinary people, this means more diverse supply chain choices, higher quality and cost-effective goods, and richer job opportunities.
The customs closure of Hainan seals the barriers of old mechanisms and opens up a sea of experimentation for global cooperation based on new rules. As physical goods flow and digital assets explore new intersection methods here, what we see is not just an upgrade of an island but a grand rehearsal of how future global trade can operate more efficiently and fairly.