Dubai’s Land Department (DLD) has initiated a new pilot program to tokenize property title deeds using the XRP Ledger (XRPL), marking the first government-backed real estate tokenization in the Middle East.
This move, part of the DLD’s Real Estate Evolution Space (REES) initiative, establishes a live integration between blockchain-based deed tokens and the emirate’s official land registry.
The pilot, developed in partnership with tokenization firm Ctrl Alt, enables the issuance of fractional ownership tokens for physical properties, recorded on the XRPL and synchronized with Dubai’s legal land records. Unlike many blockchain experiments limited to digital representations, this effort maintains legal finality by directly updating the government’s property database upon every on-chain transaction.
In the initial phase, UAE residents holding national ID cards can participate in the pilot via the PRYPCO Mint platform, with entry-level investments starting at AED 2,000 (around $545). Transactions are conducted in dirhams, and no cryptocurrency payments are accepted. However, ownership is recorded on-chain as bearer tokens, offering a blockchain-native record of fractional property rights.
The project aims to tokenize up to AED 60 billion ($16 billion) worth of real estate by 2033 - about 7% of Dubai’s projected annual property transaction volume. The DLD will oversee the physical real estate, while the emirate’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) regulates Ctrl Alt’s role as the digital asset broker-dealer, ensuring that tokenized deeds meet stringent compliance standards.
Why the XRP Ledger?
Dubai’s selection of the XRP Ledger introduces a new level of public-sector integration for the blockchain, which has existed since 2012 and handles nearly two million transactions daily.
Known for its fast settlement (a few seconds per transaction) and low network fees, XRPL was chosen for its scalability and ability to handle high transaction throughput - an essential requirement for transforming property investment into a retail-accessible, on-demand service.
This marks the XRPL’s most prominent public deployment to date. RippleX, Ripple’s developer division, acknowledged the partnership but has no formal role in the initiative. The XRP Ledger itself is open-source and does not require direct corporate involvement for integration.
Ctrl Alt’s Role and Track Record
Ctrl Alt’s technology mints fractional deed tokens that directly reflect legal ownership interests in registered properties. The company has embedded its infrastructure into the DLD’s systems to ensure legal consistency across both blockchain and traditional registries. Every on-chain token transfer immediately updates the government ledger, eliminating the need for paper-based conveyancing and reducing the potential for disputes over title.
The London- and Dubai-based firm has experience in tokenizing alternative assets, having processed over $295 million in instruments such as private credit and litigation finance as of May 2025. However, this pilot puts Ctrl Alt at the center of one of the world’s most active real estate markets - Dubai recorded more than $218 billion in property deals last year.
Strategic Policy Alignment
This initiative ties directly into two broader strategic agendas: Dubai’s Real Estate Sector Strategy 2033 and the Dubai Economic Agenda (D33). Both call for digital transformation and tech-driven market modernization to enhance the city’s competitiveness as a global hub for capital, finance, and innovation.
By embedding tokenization within the real estate regulatory stack, Dubai aims to shorten settlement cycles, increase market liquidity, and open access to a broader investor base.
Fractional ownership models such as this promise to shift real estate investment from an elite asset class into a more accessible, retail-aligned product category. If successful, the system would offer real-time data streams to regulators, developers, and financial institutions while allowing for automation of compliance, audits, and reporting.
Structural Implications and Regulatory Oversight
Dubai’s approach involves tight regulatory layering: the DLD maintains authority over the physical asset and title registry, while VARA licenses and supervises the digital asset infrastructure. This dual-governance model attempts to preserve traditional legal certainty while exploring blockchain’s operational efficiencies.
Importantly, the tokens issued under this system are not equivalent to securities or REIT shares, nor do they come with investor protections found in traditional capital markets. Ctrl Alt cautions that deed tokens are virtual assets subject to volatility and potential total loss.
While they represent a claim on property value, they do not entitle holders to physical access, nor are they guaranteed by a central bank or government fund.
Technical Architecture and Market Impact
The use of the XRP Ledger introduces a new model of public-private infrastructure integration. XRPL’s consensus algorithm offers rapid confirmation and energy efficiency, but it lacks the programmability of smart-contract platforms like Ethereum.
That tradeoff reflects Dubai’s current priorities: rapid, low-cost settlement and seamless back-end integration with existing property systems, rather than building on-chain complexity.
If the pilot scales successfully, Dubai could become the first jurisdiction globally to maintain live, mirrored records of all property transactions on a public blockchain - an advance that would compress transfer timelines from weeks to minutes and eliminate many of the manual bottlenecks in land conveyance systems.
It would also signal to regulators globally that tokenized property rights can coexist with legacy legal systems when carefully designed.
Early Adoption and Market Testing
At launch, several apartment units have already been tokenized. Early adopters can now use PRYPCO Mint to acquire deed tokens and trade them, with all transactions permanently recorded on the XRP Ledger.
Because the token issuance is legally synchronized with the DLD registry, investors receive an enforceable claim on the underlying property, even though they are transacting entirely through a digital interface.
This model bears watching from both policy and financial market perspectives. Real estate is the largest asset class in most national economies, yet it remains illiquid, opaque, and dominated by large investors. Tokenization has long promised to change that - but until now, it lacked public-sector legal backing in most jurisdictions.
Industry Context
Dubai’s move comes as tokenization continues to attract interest from institutional finance and public-sector planners. Globally, banks, asset managers, and real estate platforms are exploring digital asset issuance on both public and permissioned blockchains.
The total addressable market for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), including real estate, is projected to surpass $16 trillion by 2030, according to estimates from institutions such as Citi and Boston Consulting Group.
Yet challenges remain: regulatory harmonization across jurisdictions is limited, legal enforceability is often unclear, and secondary trading venues for tokenized assets are underdeveloped. Dubai’s pilot addresses these hurdles by aligning on-chain operations with existing legal and regulatory structures - a model that could inspire emulation, or at least closer study, in other markets.
Final thoughts
Dubai’s integration of the XRP Ledger for government-backed real estate tokenization represents a significant experiment in public-private blockchain infrastructure.
With clear regulatory oversight, legal finality, and a real-world use case in a high-volume market, the project is designed to test whether tokenized property can deliver on its promise of liquidity, efficiency, and broader access.
The pilot is underway. The technology is operational. And for now, early users will determine whether blockchain-based deeds are a novelty - or the foundation of a new market standard.