Entities in Dubai and the archipelagic nation of the Maldives are moving forward with tokenized development projects worth millions of dollars in total.
On Friday, Dubai Land Department announced that it will launch the second phase of the real estate tokenization pilot program. The move follows the tokenization of approximately $5 million worth of Dubai real estate, which enabled the resale of approximately 7.8 million tokens.
Tokenization infrastructure partner for the pilot, Ctrl Alt, which is also licensed as a virtual asset service provider in Dubai, will issue “asset-based virtual asset management tokens” to facilitate token transfers on secondary markets.
According to Ctrl Alt, all onchain transactions for real estate tokens will be recorded on the XRP ledger and secured by Ripple Custody.
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Dubai Land Department predicted in May 2025 that the tokenization project could contribute approximately $16 billion by 2033, representing 7% of all real estate transactions in the jurisdiction.
Some experts do he said Dubai’s real estate market and cryptocurrency-friendly regulatory environment have made the emirate stand out from other jurisdictions around the world.
A Trump-linked hotel deal in the Maldives is also looking to tokenize
Ctrl Alt’s announcement came days after developer DarGlobal and World Liberty Financial, a crypto firm backed by US President Donald Trump and his sons, announced plans to tokenize the development phase of a Trump-branded resort in the Maldives.
The tokenization transaction will be carried out in cooperation with financial technology company Securitize.
“We definitely see this as a takeover of how other projects are financed,” DarGlobal CEO Ziad El Chaar told Cointelegraph, adding:
“[Tokenization] “It will open the door to many more investors who would like to invest in real estate but do not have access to it today.”
World Liberty announced the deal during a cryptocurrency event at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on Wednesday.
Participants included traditional financial players such as Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, cryptocurrency industry figures including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, and senators Ashley Moody and Bernie Moreno.
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