AquaIndex plans to launch UAE water token as part of global expansion

AquaIndex, a water asset management and pricing company, has announced plans to launch a dedicated regional water token for the UAE as part of its strategy to expand globally and build a digital infrastructure for the documentation, pricing, ownership management and trading of water reserves using real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation technology.

Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, DMCC, said, "When we signed our partnership with AquaIndex in 2025, our ambition was clear: to support the launch of what we believe is the world's first digital asset token backed directly by freshwater resources, to help develop a more transparent global marketplace for water, and to establish Dubai as a leading centre for this emerging sector."

He added that Dubai remains a natural platform for the company's next phase of international growth. Through DMCC's ecosystem connecting trade, logistics, technology and finance, the partnership aims to bring physical assets into blockchain-powered markets and support better stewardship of water resources.

AquaIndex expects its enterprise platform to go live in Q4 2026. The platform is designed to create standardised digital representations of certified physical water reserves, enabling the underlying assets to be documented, tracked and managed. It also incorporates an automated physical redemption and logistics engine, connecting smart-contract execution with physical delivery at certified reservoir and distribution locations. This is designed to enable holders of water tokens to redeem their allocation for physical water through established delivery infrastructure.

The company's initial physical tokens are backed by water sourced from a regulated aquifer in the USA. The initial asset base proposed for tokenisation comprises up to 11 billion barrels of water, with an estimated value of approximately US$5 billion. The associated delivery network includes more than 20 miles of existing pipeline infrastructure, with individual pipelines offering potential physical delivery capacity of approximately 300,000 barrels per day at large scale.

Yaacov Shirazi, Chairman and Founder of AquaIndex, said the company is building the technology layer that can connect the physical resource with transparent pricing, verified ownership and efficient delivery. He emphasised that the UAE, with its global commodities ecosystem and increasingly sophisticated digital infrastructure, is an important part of the company's global expansion strategy. Shirazi added, "We are not simply digitising an asset. We are building the infrastructure that connects the digital representation of water to the physical resource itself from verification and documentation through to redemption and delivery."

AquaIndex is also developing its infrastructure on the Canton Network, including the operation of a dedicated Canton Network Validator Node to support data privacy and secure transactions. The company is simultaneously deploying its core smart-contract infrastructure on Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) architecture, supporting interoperability with wider digital technologies and automated logistics systems. It expects initial commodity allocations and secondary-market integrations to go live by the end of 2026, with further international reserve assets and commercial applications planned as the platform expands, alongside exploring growth opportunities across the GCC to support water security.