Dubai will begin secondary transactions of real estate tokens from February 20

Dubai has taken an important step in integrating digital assets with the real estate market by announcing the start of the second phase of the tokenization project by Dubai Land Department. This new phase allows for the resale of real estate tokens in the secondary market starting February 20 and marks the transition of this initiative from a pilot stage to operational implementation.

Dubai Land Department announced that this action reflects the progress of the project towards a technology-based and regulated real estate model. The aim of this initiative is to prepare the Dubai real estate market for broader adoption of advanced digital solutions while maintaining oversight, transparency, and investor protection. The second phase follows the pilot stage launched last March as part of the REES real estate innovation initiative.

The pilot phase was conducted in collaboration with the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) and a group of strategic partners, focusing on testing the legal, judicial, and technical infrastructures required for the tokenization of real estate assets directly in the property title. The results of this phase confirmed the feasibility of implementing tokenization within a regulatory framework and introduced Dubai as the first property registration authority in the region to adopt this model under official supervision.

In the second phase, approximately 7.8 million real estate tokens will be available for trading in the secondary market. Tokenization of real estate allows residential assets to be divided into digital tokens that represent ownership shares and can be bought, sold, or transferred through authorized platforms. The aim of this phase is to assess market efficiency and operational readiness under real transaction conditions.

Dubai Land Department emphasized that the future expansion of the project will be based on clear operational data rather than merely a timeline for decision-making. This measured approach is designed to reduce systemic risk when introducing new technology to the real estate market. The real estate tokenization project supports the goals of Dubai's real estate sector strategy 2033 and the UAE Vision 2071, aiming to strengthen Dubai's position as a global real estate investment hub.

Source: Gulf News