Markets
What to know:
- Billiton Diamond and tokenization firm Ctrl Alt, two conspirators in a glittering farce, have moved more than $280 million worth of certified polished diamonds onto the blockchain in the UAE, guarded by Ripple’s custody and minted by the XRP Ledger, as if the stones themselves learned to count.
- The project proclaims itself an institutional-grade tokenization pipeline for polished stones, yet any grand rollout will wait for Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority to bless or veto with the gravity of a magistrate’s stamp.
- While Ripple provides the plumbing-custody and token infrastructure-the rest of the house is still being built: redemption mechanics, minimum lot sizes and pricing for individual stones remain murky, inviting questions about how freely these tokens will trade beyond a controlled pilot.
Billiton Diamond and tokenization firm Ctrl Alt said Tuesday they had moved more than AED 1 billion (about $280 million) worth of certified polished diamonds on-chain in the UAE, with Ripple’s custody technology serving as the stern watchdog and the XRP Ledger minting tokens tied to physical inventory.
The initiative-cast as an institutional-grade pipeline for polished stones held in the UAE-has already tokenized more than AED 1 billion ($280 million) in diamond inventory, the firms claim, as though the ledger itself were inspecting a showroom window for provenance and calm.
While the parties present the project as a shortcut to faster settlement and clearer provenance data, the next act hinges on regulatory clearance: a broader platform launch and wider distribution would depend on Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) lifting the spell or leaving the stage lights off.
The companies say Ripple’s enterprise custody tools will secure the tokenized inventory, while the XRPL handles issuance and transfers. That places Ripple in the plumbing layer rather than the marketplace layer-a distinction that matters, because the real question in tokenized commodities isn’t the act of minting, but whether the thing can trade with tight spreads, reliable pricing and a transparent path to redemption.
The firms also mention a longer runway of “lifecycle” features-such as custody, transfers and secondary-market readiness-but withheld details on how redemptions would work, what minimum lot sizes might look like, or how pricing would be formed for individual stones, all crucial ingredients for a market that hopes to move beyond a controlled pilot.
Dubai’s DMCC said it played a coordinating role by linking stakeholders and supporting the ecosystem around commodities tokenization, as the emirate nudges RWAs toward becoming a real, breathing business line-like a dragon asleep on a pile of audited diamonds.
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2026-02-03 12:31