It is the biggest deal in real estate tokenization.
On Thursday, UAE’s Damac Properties and blockchain firm Mantra announced a $1 billion partnership to tokenize real estate.
What does this mean in the real world? You could soon buy a slice of luxury property for $100 worth of crypto — stablecoins, Bitcoin, whatever suits your wallet.
This is fractional property ownership you can trade or even use as collateral for loans. It’s being hyped as a “game changer,” and, at least on paper, it sounds revolutionary for real estate investment.
The deal is different to, but also builds on, Mantra’s earlier $500 million arrangement with UAE developer MAG Group, where investors could use their property equity as a debt instrument.
Damac’s already diving into fractional real estate investments, MONIIFY has reported earlier.
But with a billion dollars, it is shooting for a loftier target.
The deal may have the potential to be a game changer for tokenization of real estate, a sector that’s just not taken off, after being labeled the next big thing, inevitable and what Wall Street’s warming up to.
Green light?
Mantra CEO John Patrick Mullin tells MONIIFY that this positions the UAE as a global leader in real estate tokenization and that the support from industry leaders like Damac and regulators dwarf similar efforts worldwide.
But while announcements like this don’t come without a regulatory nudge, no official comment has been made that backs up the claim that these tokenization transactions will be possible by early 2025.
Dubai’s digital asset regulator, the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority, declined to comment. Dubai’s Land Department didn’t immediately respond to a MONIIFY request for comment.
Mullin remains optimistic, saying regulatory greenlights will eventually extend beyond basic tokenization to secondary market trading. But don’t expect a full-fledged trading exchange by this quarter.
Read more: Rate cut roulette: Should Dubai real estate investors play?
Devil in the details
Tokenization sounds sexy, but the execution isn’t exactly smooth sailing.
Joshua Johnson, co-founder of cryptocurrency real estate firm LiquidHectare, tells MONIIFY that successful implementation will hinge on several factors, including committed market makers, digitized land registries, standardized settlement systems, and deep liquidity.
Without these, Johnson says, the tokens could turn into digital paperweights — technically sound but practically illiquid. Can these concerns be addressed by early 2025? Maybe. But it’s a big ask, he says.
Damac’s ambitions are a bold experiment. Tokenization has been the “next big thing” for years but has struggled to deliver on its promise.
With $1 billion at stake, Damac and Mantra are betting that the UAE and its booming real estate market are where blockchain can finally bridge the gap between concept and reality.
Edited by Ankush Chibber. If you have any tips, ideas or feedback, please get in touch: talk-to-us@moniify.com
