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Ripple, a global leader in digital asset infrastructure for financial institutions, has announced a strategic partnership with Ctrl Alt, a UAE-based tokenisation infrastructure platform. The partnership will see Ctrl Alt adopt Ripple’s institutional-grade digital asset custody technology to support the Dubai Land Department’s (DLD) pioneering Real Estate Tokenisation Project.
Under the initiative, Dubai’s property title deeds will be tokenised and issued on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), with Ripple’s custody solution providing secure and scalable storage for the digital assets.
Ctrl Alt, which revealed its involvement in the DLD initiative last month, is Ripple’s first major custody partner in the UAE — a milestone that reflects the growing regional demand for compliant digital asset infrastructure. Ripple’s global custody network now spans clients across EMEA, APAC, and Latin America.
“The Dubai Land Department’s Real Estate Tokenisation Project is a perfect example of the type of forward-thinking, innovative initiative that is positioning Dubai at the heart of the global digital asset industry,” said Reece Merrick, managing director, Middle East and Africa, at Ripple.
“This is the first time a government real estate registration authority in the Middle East has tokenised property title deeds on a public blockchain. That the DLD has chosen the XRPL for this is really exciting and reinforces the XRPL’s credentials as the blockchain of choice for serious financial use cases. We’re delighted that Ctrl Alt has chosen our institutional-grade digital asset custody technology to support the delivery of this project.”
Read: Dubai launches tokenised real estate investment project via ‘Prypco Mint’
Ctrl Alt also recently became the first Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) in Dubai to be licensed for issuer-related services by the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA). The license enables Ctrl Alt to handle the end-to-end tokenisation process — from issuance and custody to on-chain settlement and asset lifecycle management — in a fully compliant manner.
“As the tokenisation infrastructure provider for the DLD Project, Ctrl Alt brings deep expertise in financial engineering and digital asset infrastructure, so it makes sense for us to partner with Ripple to use their custody technology to support this initiative,” said Matt Ong, CEO and founder of Ctrl Alt.
“Partnering with Ripple allows us to leverage proven and trusted technology that meets the highest security and operational standards. We’re excited to work with them and bring Dubai real estate investment opportunities to a wider audience.”
Digital real estate transformation
The DLD’s tokenisation project is seen as a major milestone in digital real estate transformation. By enabling fractional ownership of property, the initiative opens doors for broader investor participation and a more inclusive, transparent, and efficient real estate market. It also reflects Dubai’s ambition to remain a global innovation hub by adopting cutting-edge blockchain infrastructure.
Ripple has been rapidly gaining traction in the UAE. Earlier this year, it became the first blockchain-enabled payments provider to be licensed by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). Since then, it has secured partnerships with Zand Bank — another stakeholder in the DLD tokenisation initiative — and Mamo, which is leveraging Ripple’s blockchain for cross-border payments.
In June, Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin was approved by the DFSA for use within the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), adding to the company’s growing compliance and product suite in the region.
With over 60 regulatory licenses and a decade of experience in digital assets, Ripple is increasingly being recognised for offering robust and compliant infrastructure to store, exchange, and transfer digital assets — positioning it as a trusted partner for tokenisation efforts worldwide.
