Billiton Diamond and tokenization company Ctrl Alt said Tuesday they have transferred more than $280 million in on-chain certified cut diamonds to the United Arab Emirates, using Ripple’s custody technology to secure the assets and the XRP Ledger to create tokens tied to physical inventory.
The initiative – designed as an institutional-grade tokenization pipeline for polished stones held in the UAE – has already generated more than AED1 billion ($280 million) in diamond inventory, the companies said.
While the companies are positioning the project as a path to faster settlement and clearer provenance data, the next phase depends on regulatory clearance: a broader platform launch and any move toward wider distribution would be subject to approval by Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA).
The companies said Ripple’s enterprise custody tools would secure tokenized inventory, while XRPL would manage issuance and transfers. This places Ripple in the plumbing layer rather than the market layer – a distinction that matters, because the most difficult question in tokenized products is not minting tokens, but whether they can trade meaningfully with tight spreads, reliable prices, and clear buyback mechanisms.
The companies also reported a longer range of “lifecycle” features – such as custody, transfers and secondary market readiness – but did not share details on how buybacks would work, what minimum lot sizes might look like, or how pricing would be set for individual stones, all key factors for any market that wants to move beyond a controlled pilot.
The Dubai DMCC said it plays a coordinating role in connecting stakeholders and supporting the ecosystem around commodity tokenization, as the emirate strives to make RWA a real business sector.
