Dubai takes next step to make real estate flips instant in $16 billion tokenization plan

Finance Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Dubai takes next step to make real estate flips instant in $16 billion tokenization plan Dubai Land Department and Ctrl Alt move to the next phase of real estate tokenization project, enabling the resale of property tokens. By Krisztian Sandor | Edited by Jamie Crawley Feb 20, 2026, 5:09 p.m. Make us preferred on Google Dubai, UAE (Pexels, Pixabay modified by CoinDesk) What to know : Over $5 million in tokenized Dubai real estate becomes tradable on a controlled secondary market. The XRP Ledger-based tokens are backed by title deeds, with trades synced to Dubai’s land registry and supported by Ripple Custody. The project is part of Dubai’s broader plan to tokenize $16 billion in property by 2033. The Dubai Land Department (DLD) and tokenization firm Ctrl Alt unveiled a secondary market for real estate-backed tokens, enabling the resale of $5 million in fractional property ownership in an announcement on Friday . Roughly 7.8 million tokens tied to ten Dubai properties are now eligible for trading within a controlled market environment. Transactions will take place on a regulated distribution platform, recorded on the XRP Ledger blockchain and secured by Ripple Custody. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy . The effort is part of Dubai's ambitious plan to become a global hub for real estate tokenization, turning ownership in properties into tradable tokens on blockchain rails. Proponents argue that blockchain rails can streamline ownership records and settlement. However, uneven regulation remains a bottleneck and thin secondary trading can limit liquidity, a report by EY pointed out. The tokenized real estate market is still a tiny slice of the global property market, but it is projected to grow rapidly over the next decade. Deloitte said in a report last year that $4 trillion of real estate will be tokenized by 2035, growing 27% a year. Dubai's $16 billion roadmap DLD, a government agency for the real estate industry, set out a roadmap last year to tokenize 7% — or about $16 billion — of Dubai’s real estate market by 2033. The first milestone of that plan was the inception of a platform developed with Prypco and Ctrl Alt to tokenize property deeds on the XRP Ledger (XRP) chain. Secondary market trading with the tokens is part of the second phase of that pilot, aiming to test market infrastructure, investor protections, and alignment with existing property laws. Ctrl Alt, the project’s infrastructure partner, has integrated directly with the DLD system to issue and manage title deed tokens onchain. The tokens are also paired with a second layer — Asset-Referenced Virtual Assets (ARVAs) — that regulate who can trade them and under what conditions. This setup ensures all trades are compliant and accurately reflected in Dubai’s official property registry. Read more: Real estate billionaire Barry Sternlicht is ready to tokenize assets, but says U.S. regulation blocks it Tokenization Tokenized Assets Real World Assets Dubai XRP Ledger More For You Zoomex: Precise Systems of Fairness and Transparency by Design By CoinDesk Jan 31, 2026 Commissioned by Zoomex Read full story More For You RWA issuers prioritize capital formation over liquidity, according to Brickken survey By Olivier Acuna | Edited by Stephen Alpher 1 hour ago Exclusive fourth quarter data shows 69.2% of issuers are live, while 84.6% report regulatory friction shaping tokenization rollout. What to know : A new Brickken survey finds most real-world asset issuers are using tokenization primarily to improve capital formation and fundraising efficiency, not to unlock secondary market liquidity. 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