Tokinvest leads UAE’s regulation-first push to scale real-world asset tokenisation

Tokinvest has rapidly emerged as one of the UAE’s most prominent regulated players in real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation, reflecting the country’s growing role at the centre of global digital-asset innovation.

According to Scott Thiel, CEO and Founder of Tokinvest, the company’s rise has been driven by a deliberate focus on regulation and execution from the outset. “Our growth has been driven by a very deliberate regulation-first strategy,” says Thiel. “From day one, we focused on building Tokinvest as licensed market infrastructure, not as a tokenisation experiment.”

That approach culminated in Tokinvest securing VARA’s first full multi-asset issuance licence, a milestone Thiel describes as defining for the business. “Equally important was proving that regulated tokenisation works in practice,” he adds. “We backed regulation with execution – launching and fully selling our first tokenised asset and continuing to build a diversified, compliant issuance pipeline.”

The company’s trajectory also reflects the UAE’s broader positioning as a global hub for tokenised finance. Thiel believes the country has taken a fundamentally different regulatory path compared to other jurisdictions. “Instead of reacting to innovation, regulators here have designed frameworks specifically for it,” he says. “What truly sets the UAE apart is that regulation, infrastructure, capital, and ambition are moving in sync.”

The new multi-asset issuance licence significantly expands Tokinvest’s offering to investors. “This licence allows us to move beyond single-asset or pilot tokenisation into scaled, multi-asset issuance under one comprehensive regulatory framework,” explains Thiel. “For investors, that means broader access to different real-world asset classes with consistent standards around onboarding, disclosures, governance, and investor protection.”

He points to the complementary roles played by VARA and DMCC in building trust across the ecosystem. “VARA establishes the trust and oversight layer, ensuring tokenised markets operate with the same integrity expected of traditional financial systems,” says Thiel. “DMCC brings deep real-economy infrastructure, particularly for commodities, trade, and asset provenance.”

In terms of demand, Tokinvest is seeing strong interest across both institutional and retail segments. “We’re seeing the strongest demand in real estate, commodities, and select private market instruments,” notes Thiel, citing property’s familiarity in the region and the appeal of commodities due to “global pricing, clear custody, and strong provenance.”

One of the most high-profile demonstrations of tokenisation’s potential came with the tokenisation of DMCC’s 1.9-tonne Guinness World Record silver bar. “It was a highly important proof point,” says Thiel. “The project demonstrates that tokenisation can work for large-scale, institutionally significant assets with verified provenance, regulated issuance, and secure custody.”

From an infrastructure perspective, Thiel emphasises that Tokinvest is not positioned as a simple technology provider. “We’ve built Tokinvest as regulated market infrastructure, not just a token-minting platform,” he says. “Our focus is on the full asset lifecycle – structuring, issuance, compliance, distribution, trading, custody integration, and ongoing servicing.”

Despite rapid progress, barriers to mainstream adoption remain. Thiel highlights liquidity, standardisation, and education as critical next steps. “Investors need to clearly understand what tokenisation is, what it isn’t, and how risks and governance work,” he says.

Thiel expects tokenised finance to become embedded within the region’s financial architecture. “The next five years will see tokenisation transition from individual launches to repeatable, regulated issuance programmes,” he says. “Tokenised finance will increasingly be viewed not as an alternative to traditional markets, but as a more efficient, transparent extension of them.”