Dubai Sets RWA Milestone With First Approval of Tokenized Money Market Fund

The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) granted regulatory approval to QCD Money Market Fund (QCDT), making it the first tokenized money-market fund with an official set-up in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), according to Qatar National Bank (QNB), while DMZ Finance, the companies behind the fund.

The fund's investment strategy and asset origination is led by Qatar National Bank while DMZ Finance provides the technology underpinning its digital architecture, the companies said in a statement shared with CoinDesk.

The regulatory approval serves as evidence of Dubai and the Middle East's growing role as a hub for compliant digital asset finance, particularly in the tokenization market. According to a joint report by Ripple and BCG, the global market for tokenized RWAs is projected to surge to $18.9 trillion by 2033, with jurisdictions like Dubai and Doha emerging as early leaders of this transformation.

"As the Middle East rapidly emerges as a global hub for financial innovation, the successful deployment of QCDT further consolidates QNB's leadership in the regional financial ecosystem and reflects our long-term vision to shape the next generation of financial infrastructure," Silas Lee, CEO of QNB Singapore, said in the statement.

The fund, launched to bring traditional assets, such as U.S. Treasuries, on-chain, aims to serve a broad spectrum of institutional applications, including bank-eligible collateral, stablecoin backing, exchange reserves and Web3 payment infrastructure. With its regulatory compliance, yield stability and on-chain transparency, the backers say they expect it to catalyze adoption across both financial and crypto-native institutions.

“Tokenization of real-world assets is no longer experimental — it is foundational," said Nathan Ma, co-founder and chairman of DMZ Finance. "Our goal at DMZ is to provide the connective tissue between traditional markets and the digital asset ecosystem, particularly in regions ready for innovation.”

DMZ Finance is a real-world asset tokenization and stablecoin infrastructure platform. It is among the first cohort of companies admitted to the Qatar Financial Center (QFC's) Digital Lab. DMZ has established a strategic partnership with Qatar National Bank, the largest bank in the Middle East and Africa to jointly advance the integration of asset tokenization into the regional financial system. The QNB Group was established in 1964 as Qatar’s first Qatari-owned commercial bank, with 50% ownership held by the Qatar Investment Authority.