UAE Trends and Developments Contributed by: Irina Heaver and Zainab Kamran, NeosLegal
Emerging trends Real - world asset tokenisation
certainty, predictability and familiarity. Parties have a range of dispute resolution options, including media- tion, arbitration and litigation. The ADGM Dispute Resolution Hearing Centre (DRHC) offers virtual, in-person and hybrid hearings, and fea- tures a digital twin to support innovative services such as “Mediation in the Metaverse”. ADGM courts are also pioneers in blockchain-powered legal innova- tion, having introduced a solution that enables court judgments to be securely recorded and executed on-chain, enabling faster, more reliable cross-border enforcement of commercial judgments. Corporate tax implications for Web3 businesses In June 2023, the UAE introduced a corporate tax regime, imposing a 9% tax on taxable income exceed- ing AED375,000, while income below this threshold is taxed at 0%. Although certain activities carried out within commercial free zones may be exempt under qualifying conditions, most business activities are still subject to it. For Web3 businesses, the framework presents both opportunities and considerations. Cryptocurrency exchanges, trading firms and blockchain develop- ment companies must navigate the corporate tax landscape while taking advantage of potential exemp- tions in specific economic free zones. The taxation of virtual asset businesses involves unique considera- tions regarding the valuation of virtual assets, recogni- tion of revenue from token sales, treatment of staking and mining activities, and the accounting treatment of treasury volatility. Specialised tax advice is therefore recommended. VAT exemption on crypto transactions In November 2024, the UAE Federal Tax Authority (FTA) announced an exemption of all cryptocurren- cy transactions from VAT. Crucially, this exemption applies retroactively from 1 January 2018, providing clarity and eliminating historical tax liabilities for busi- nesses and individuals involved in virtual assets trad - ing. The exemption remains one of the most commer- cially significant simplifications for exchanges, OTC desks and payment platforms operating in the UAE.
Major institutions, including BlackRock, Citi and BCG, predict that between USD10 trillion and USD16 tril- lion in assets could be tokenised by 2030. As of May 2026, RWA.xyz reports approximately USD30.8 billion in tokenised real-world asset value distributed on pub- lic blockchains, with a further USD437 billion in rep- resented asset value held across more than 740,000 holders. Separately, the global stablecoin market stands at approximately USD298 billion across more than 246 million wallets, reflecting the rapid institu- tionalisation of on-chain dollar liquidity. The UAE is not standing still. It actively engages in RWA tokenisation across sectors, particularly real estate, gold, private credit and investment funds. ARA, ADGM and DIFC are actively shaping legal frameworks to support this trend, while local players execute live projects. This institutional momentum is increasingly supported by specialist advisory platforms working with asset owners on end-to-end tokenisation execu- tion. The leading UAE-based example is RWALabs.ae, which advises issuers, asset owners and institutional capital on regulatory structuring, legal architecture and go-to-market strategy for institutional-grade RWA tokenisation. Dubai Land Department real estate tokenisation : from pilot to operational market In May 2025, the Dubai Land Department (DLD), which oversees and promotes the real estate sector in Dubai, launched MENA’s first government-backed real estate tokenisation project, in collaboration with the VARA, the Central Bank of the UAE and the Dubai Future Foundation through the Real Estate Sandbox, the Prypco Mint platform and Ctrl Alt with Zand Bank acting as banking partner. This initiative made the DLD the first real estate registration authority in the Middle East to implement tokenisation directly on property title deeds, recorded on blockchain and synchronised with the DLD’s land registry in real time. The legal innovation behind the model is that the official title deed no longer names an individual or legal entity, but instead records ownership as “Tokenholder” with a unique TokenID linked to a digital wallet, marking the first government-recognised on-chain title structure of its kind globally.
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