In the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan in 2026, the National Data Bureau designated 2026 as the Year of Data Element Value Release. The Draft of the State-owned Assets Law first included data assets as parts of state-owned assets. Guangzhou’s government data accounts for 80% of the city’s total, but the assetization rate is less than 15%. This article examines the current assetization situation, analyzes challenges related to rights, governance, market and technology, and proposes solutions from systems, markets, technologies and directories, to assist Guangzhou as a benchmark for smart cities.