KEY FACTS: Dubai and the Maldives are emerging as key hubs for tokenized real estate advancements as of February 2026. On February 20, 2026, the Dubai Land Department expanded its pioneering tokenization pilot (launched in May 2025) into Phase Two, enabling regulated secondary market trading for previously tokenized premium properties worth over $5 million, which were converted into approximately 7.8 million digital tokens; the initiative, executed with Ctrl Alt on the XRP Ledger and secured by Ripple Custody, issues Asset-Referenced Virtual Assets to facilitate compliant transfers while syncing with the official land registry, with officials projecting tokenized real estate could contribute $16 billion (AED 60 billion), roughly 7% of Dubai’s total property transactions, by 2033. Simultaneously, London-listed developer DarGlobal and World Liberty Financial (the crypto venture linked to U.S. President Donald Trump and his family) announced plans to tokenize loan revenue interests in the upcoming Trump International Hotel & Resort in the Maldives, a luxury project featuring around 100 exclusive villas set for completion around 2030, in partnership with Securitize, marking an innovative approach to funding development-stage hospitality assets and broadening access for investors.

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Source: Ctrl Alt

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Tokenized Real Estate Surges in Dubai and the Maldives

Major developments in two premier luxury destinations have spotlighted the transformative potential of asset tokenization. On February 20, 2026, Dubai’s Land Department rolled out the second phase of its pioneering real estate tokenization pilot, enabling controlled secondary market trading for already-tokenized properties. Just days earlier, DarGlobal and World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture tied to U.S. President Donald Trump and his family, unveiled plans to tokenize loan revenue interests in the forthcoming Trump International Hotel & Resort in the Maldives, marking what partners describe as a global first for funding hospitality development through digital assets.

These parallel advances, together representing millions in tokenized value, signal a maturing ecosystem where governments, regulators, and high-profile developers are harnessing blockchain to unlock liquidity, broaden investor access, and modernize ownership models in some of the world’s most sought-after property markets.

Dubai’s Tokenization Pilot unfolds New Era of Tradability

The Dubai Land Department (DLD) announcement on Friday marked a pivotal expansion of a project first launched in May 2025 under the Real Estate Evolution Space Initiative (REES). In the initial pilot phase, ten premium properties valued at more than $5 million (approximately AED 18.5 million) were successfully tokenized, resulting in the issuance of roughly 7.8 million digital tokens representing fractional ownership stakes.

Phase Two introduces regulated secondary market trading capabilities, allowing those tokens to be resold within a controlled, fully compliant environment. All on-chain transactions will continue to settle on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), with security provided by Ripple Custody. Ctrl Alt, the licensed tokenization infrastructure partner and a Dubai-based Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) holding both Issuer and Broker-Dealer licenses from the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), will issue “Asset-Referenced Virtual Asset” (ARVA) management tokens to facilitate these transfers while maintaining perfect synchronization with the official DLD land registry.

This dual-token structure, original ownership tokens paired with ARVA management tokens, creates an immutable, on-chain record of every transaction, ensuring regulatory oversight and operational integrity. Trading occurs through approved distribution platforms such as PRYPCO, which has already enabled fractional investments starting at just AED 2,000 (about $545) via its Mint platform.

Robert Farquhar, CEO MENA at Ctrl Alt, emphasized that they are proud to work with the Dubai Land Department and VARA on Phase Two of the project, demonstrating what is possible when governments and institutional-grade innovation come together to build market-leading digital rails. Native tokenization is expected to reach its full potential when assets can move efficiently post-issuance, and secondary market trading is essential to that outcome.

Matt Acheson, Chief Product Officer at Ctrl Alt, added that their goal is to build a secondary market infrastructure that is efficient for the entire ecosystem while maintaining the controls and governance required by the DLD and VARA. The Ctrl team Alt is set to manage the underlying complexity of this tokenization technology so that distribution platforms can deliver smooth, fractional real estate experiences to their end users.

The DLD has long projected ambitious outcomes. In the May 2025 launch announcement, officials forecasted that tokenized real estate could contribute AED 60 billion ($16 billion) to Dubai’s property market by 2033, equivalent to roughly 7% of the emirate’s total transaction volume. This is in line with Dubai’s broader economic vision under the D33 agenda and the Real Estate Sector Strategy 2033, which prioritize digital transformation to attract global capital and enhance competitiveness.

Dubai’s crypto-friendly regulatory framework, anchored by VARA, has positioned the emirate as a global leader in real-world asset (RWA) tokenization. Experts frequently cite the combination of a booming luxury property sector and clear licensing pathways as key differentiators from other jurisdictions still grappling with regulatory uncertainty.

Trump-Linked Maldives Resort Pioneers Development-Phase Tokenization

Meanwhile, in the Indian Ocean paradise of the Maldives, a high-profile hospitality project is bringing tokenization to the earliest stages of real estate development. DarGlobal, the London-listed luxury developer (LSE: DAR), and World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the crypto platform associated with President Trump and his sons, announced plans to tokenize loan revenue interests tied to the Trump International Hotel & Resort, Maldives.

The ultra-luxury resort, developed in collaboration with The Trump Organization, will feature approximately 100 exclusive beach and overwater villas. Scheduled for completion around 2030, the property is positioned as a design-driven, private escape in one of the world’s most exclusive destinations.

Unlike most previous real estate tokenization efforts that focus on completed, income-producing assets, this initiative targets the development phase itself. Eligible accredited investors will gain exposure to fixed-yield loan revenue streams generated during construction and pre-opening, providing early-stage capital while offering blockchain-based transparency and potential liquidity.

The tokenization is being executed in partnership with Securitize, a leading RWA platform backed by BlackRock and known for structuring institutional-grade digital securities. The announcement was made at a crypto-industry gathering at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, attended by prominent figures including Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, and U.S. Senators Ashley Moody and Bernie Moreno.

DarGlobal CEO Ziad El Chaar captured the forward-looking sentiment in an interview, that "tokenization will open the door to many more investors who would like to take part in investing in real estate but don’t have access today.”

Eric Trump, co-founder of WLFI, has described the Maldives project as the first in a series, telling media outlets it represents “popping the cork” on a new wave of tokenized real estate ventures. The initiative builds on an earlier November 2025 announcement by DarGlobal and The Trump Organization that already billed the project as the world’s first tokenized hotel development.

On the whole, tokenization fundamentally reshapes real estate investment by converting physical property rights into divisible, tradable digital tokens on public blockchains. Investors can purchase fractions of high-value assets, from Dubai apartments to Maldives overwater villas, without the traditional barriers of large minimum commitments, lengthy settlement times, or geographic restrictions.

Benefits extend beyond accessibility. Blockchain records provide immutable transparency, reducing fraud risk and administrative costs. Secondary markets, as now enabled in Dubai’s pilot, promise 24/7 liquidity previously unavailable in illiquid property markets. For developers, tokenization offers new funding channels that can accelerate project timelines and diversify capital sources.

In Dubai, the integration of tokenized title deeds with the official land registry represents a regulatory milestone, the first time a government real estate authority in the Middle East has implemented public blockchain-based ownership tokens. Ctrl Alt has already tokenized over $850 million in assets across real estate, private credit, and other classes, demonstrating the scalability of the infrastructure.

The Maldives project, while smaller in immediate scale, carries symbolic weight as a Trump-branded venture entering the RWA space. It highlights how even traditional luxury hospitality developers are exploring blockchain to attract a new generation of crypto-native and institutional investors.

Dubai’s Phase Two success and the Maldives resort’s innovative funding structure illustrate two complementary paths: government-led infrastructure building in a mature market, and private-sector experimentation in ultra-luxury development. Together, they reinforce a narrative of blockchain moving from experimental fringe to core component of international real estate finance.

As these projects advance toward full commercialization, they will provide critical real-world data on token performance, investor behavior, and regulatory efficacy.

Information Sources:

• Reece Merrick / X
• Ctrl Blog
• Cointelegraph

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