A groundbreaking $280 million diamond tokenization project has launched in the United Arab Emirates, leveraging Ripple's enterprise blockchain technology to transform physical assets into digital securities. The initiative, one of the largest real-world asset tokenizations in the Middle East, is a partnership between diamond industry player Billiton Diamond, tokenization specialist Ctrl Alt, and blockchain firm Ripple.
The project tokenizes a batch of certified polished diamonds, valued at over AED 1 billion, which are physically stored in secure vaults in Dubai. Their digital representations are minted as tokens on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), utilizing Ripple's enterprise-grade custody stack for institutional security. The platform aims to offer real-time inventory management, immutable certification tracking, and plans to list the tokenized diamonds on primary and secondary markets.
The full launch of the platform is pending approval from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), established in 2022 to provide a comprehensive regulatory framework for the sector. This oversight is intended to ensure compliance with international standards for digital asset trading and provide legal certainty.
Industry experts view this as a significant digital shift for the diamond industry, addressing traditional challenges like complex verification and limited liquidity. Tokenization enables fractional ownership, increases potential market liquidity through 24/7 global trading, and provides transparent, immutable records of diamond characteristics (cut, color, clarity, carat).
Reece Merrick of Ripple described the project as a "significant leap forward" in tokenizing commodities. The initiative is part of Dubai's strategic push to become a global virtual assets hub and could serve as a model for tokenizing other high-value physical assets like real estate and art.
