AquaIndex, a water asset management and pricing company, has announced plans to launch a dedicated water token for the UAE market as part of a broader strategy to build digital infrastructure for documenting, pricing and trading freshwater reserves using real-world asset tokenisation.
The company is working with DMCC, the Dubai trade and commodities authority, under a partnership signed in 2025. “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,” Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, DMCC said in a statement.
The initial asset base proposed for tokenisation comprises up to 11 billion barrels of water, with an estimated value of approximately $5 billion.
The underlying water is sourced from a regulated aquifer in the USA, with delivery infrastructure that includes more than 20 miles of existing pipeline, capable of physical delivery of approximately 300,000 barrels per day at large scale.
AquaIndex’s enterprise platform is expected to go live in Q4 2026. It is designed to create standardised digital representations of certified physical water reserves, with an automated redemption and logistics engine that connects smart-contract execution to physical delivery at certified reservoir and distribution locations. Token holders would be able to redeem allocations for physical water through that established infrastructure.
The company is building its platform on the Canton Network, including operating a dedicated Canton Network Validator Node, and is simultaneously deploying smart-contract infrastructure on Ethereum Virtual Machine architecture to support interoperability with broader digital and logistics systems. Initial commodity allocations and secondary-market integrations are expected by the end of 2026.
Yaacov Shirazi, Chairman and Founder of AquaIndex, said the company is building more than a digitisation layer. “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,” he said.
AquaIndex has also indicated it is exploring expansion opportunities across the GCC, framing water security as a commercial and strategic consideration for the region.
