Listen, the interesting news is that Dubai has launched a pilot project on tokenization of real estate, and this could seriously change the rules of the game in the market. More than 3,000 investors have already queued up to participate! Imagine, instead of buying an apartment or an office entirely, you can now buy a "share" through tokens. It's like stocks, only in real estate.
The project was launched on March 16, and it is the first of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa region. The main engine here is the Dubai Land Department (DLD), which works together with Prypco Mint and Ctrl Alt. First, they tokenized state property, and now they want to give investors the opportunity to buy shares in these facilities. So far, only residents with an Emirates ID card can participate, but there is a huge interest in the project.
What is important is that all this is happening under the control of major regulators: in addition to DLD, the project is supported by the Dubai Future Foundation, VARA (this is the local regulator of virtual assets) and even the Central Bank of the UAE. This increases trust and can protect against situations like the one that recently happened in the United States with Unicoin, when investors were simply deceived.
Another important point is technology. The XRP Ledger (XRPL) blockchain from Ripple was chosen for tokenization. This is not the most "popular" blockchain in the field of smart contracts, but Ripple is actively promoting it for tokenization of real assets (RWAs). They have already invested millions of dollars in funds and bonds placed on XRPL, so the choice is logical. In addition, Ripple has recently received a license to provide payment services in Dubai.
And here's the interesting thing: The world is currently tokenizing mainly financial products — stocks, bonds, but real estate is still difficult. Therefore, Dubai can really become the first to massively introduce tokenization in this sector. $3 billion worth of real estate has already been tokenized, and this is just the beginning. Forecasts say that by 2033, this market could grow to $16 billion.
This approach, especially with the participation of the State, can become an example for other countries. It is safer, more transparent and gives access to more investors. Especially against the background of scandals with private companies.
So, what do you think — can Dubai really become a world leader in real estate tokenization?