Saudi Arabia moves to tokenize its multi-billion dollar economy with droppRWA securing $12.5 billion in tokenization mandates

DroppRWA has acquired $12.5 billion in mandates to bring real estate assets onto the blockchain, with plans to expand into the energy and manufacturing sectors.

Chairman of the firm and architect behind Saudi Arabia’s national digital payments system, Faisal Monai, has led this acquisition, and the development is all part of an intense push by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to tokenize large portions of its economy under its “Vision 2030” timeline.

Saudi’s tokenization leads exploits

Faisal Monai is well known in Saudi Arabia, with a reputation that predates even Bitcoin. He designed SADAD, the Saudi Central Bank’s digital payments system, which was launched in 2004. The system replaced one that was dominated majorly by individual cash transfers, where roughly 70% of bill payments were made in person at physical branches. By 2025, SADAD had processed more than 14.5 billion transactions worth approximately $250 billion.

DroppRWA completed what it describes as the world’s first tokenized property deed transaction on Feb. 4, with Monai at the helm, and succeeded in reducing settlement time from days to only seconds. The platform plans a broader rollout across Saudi Arabia’s real estate sector.

“By 2030, Saudi Arabia will have demonstrated something the rest of the world is still debating: that sovereign-grade tokenization can function as core national financial infrastructure,” Monai said.

“Vision 2030” and Saudi Arabia’s push for tokenization

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which manages roughly $1 trillion in assets, approved its 2026-2030 “Vision 2030” strategy in April with tokenization of multiple assets being a central component. The kingdom’s digital economy reached SAR 495 billion ($132 billion) in 2025, representing 15% of its GDP.

Saudi Arabia recorded over 4,000 commercial blockchain company registrations in 2025, a 51% increase from the previous year. The country is also home to approximately 3 million active crypto investors with more than $48 billion traded in crypto transactions between July 2023 and June 2024.

Open World launched what it called Saudi Arabia’s first licensed RWA Tokenization Center of Excellence in Al Khobar in January 2026. The center is targeting energy, real estate, and carbon credit tokenization, with pilot projects set for mid-2026.

Stablecoins as RWA settlement drivers

Stablecoin-based real estate settlement is expected to be live by late 2026, with the central bank and Capital Market Authority partnership. This would allow real-estate developers to receive global capital in minutes instead of waiting for days, as is the case with current settlement methods.

The global stablecoin market has grown to over $300 billion in total market cap, with 2025 transaction volumes hitting over $30 trillion, according to a May European Central Bank report.

Monai also rejected the idea that Gulf states aim to replace the U.S. dollar, instead claiming a “multi-rail” reality in which independent settlement systems operate alongside existing dollar-based systems.

Tokenized U.S. Treasuries hit a record $15.5 billion in May, while the total global tokenized RWA market stands at roughly $25 billion.

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