Billiton Diamond and tokenization company Ctrl Alt said on Tuesday they had moved more than $280 million worth of certified polished diamonds on-chain in the UAE, using Ripple’s custody technology to safeguard the assets and properties. $XRP Ledger to store tokens associated with physical inventory.
The initiative – set up as an institutional-grade tokenization pipeline for polished stones in the UAE – has already converted more than AED 1 billion ($280 million) in diamond inventory, the companies said.
While the companies are positioning the project as a route to faster settlement and clearer provenance data, the next phase is subject to regulatory approval: a wider platform launch and any move towards wider distribution would be subject to approval by Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA).
The companies said Ripple’s enterprise custody tools will secure the tokenized inventory, while the XRPL will handle issuance and transfers. That puts Ripple in the plumbing tier rather than the market tier — a distinction that matters because the tougher question with tokenized commodities isn’t minting tokens, but whether they can meaningfully trade with tight spreads, reliable prices, and clear redemption mechanisms.
The companies also pointed to a longer set of “lifecycle” features — such as custodial, transfers, and secondary market readiness — but didn’t share details about how refunds would work, what minimum lot sizes might look like, or how pricing would be shaped for individual bricks, all key factors for any market looking to move beyond a controlled pilot.
Dubai’s DMCC said it was playing a coordinating role in connecting stakeholders and supporting the ecosystem around the tokenization of commodities, as the emirate pushes to make RWAs a real industry.