Saudi Arabia launches national blockchain land registry

The Real Estate General Authority has deployed a national blockchain land registry into production. The system handles property registration, fractional ownership and marketplace integration, and a tokenized title deed transferred and settled on-chain in seconds on Feb. 4.

The registry runs on Settlemint’s tokenization platform and implements W3C Verifiable Credentials and eIDAS 2.0 standards for interoperability. The platform supports Shariah-compliant asset structures. The land authority will operate the ledger; a second phase will open an application programming interface so proptech firms, banks and developers can build on top while the state retains the official record.

The Kingdom has launched other tokenization initiatives this year. In January it opened the Open World RWA Tokenization Centre. The Public Investment Fund published a tokenization strategy targeting $12.5 billion of tokenized assets by 2030. The Capital Market Authority and the Saudi Central Bank are coordinating work to enable stablecoin-based settlement for real estate, scheduled to go live later this year. The Saudi Central Bank has also begun licensing open banking providers, moving them from the regulatory sandbox into the market.

Faisal Monai, who built the SADAD national payments system and now chairs droppRWA and the Saudi tokenization programme, expressed a policy view on stablecoins. He warned that “The moment reserves are deployed for returns, the guarantee becomes contingent.” He added that “The dollar remains deeply embedded in the region and will continue to be that way.”

Regulatory frameworks for stablecoins remain in development. As of May, Saudi authorities had not published a stablecoin rulebook and there was no legal classification for stablecoins in force. There are currently no formal reserve or one-to-one backing requirements, no mandated audits or statutory redemption rights for stablecoins. Since 2018 authorities have maintained that virtual currencies are not approved in the Kingdom, while policy design on digital-asset rules continues.

Saudi officials and vendors describe the registry as a production deployment rather than a pilot. The design places the ledger under state control, with private firms intended to connect rather than operate the core layer.

Fintech and payments metrics show rapid digital adoption. Saudi Arabia had 301 fintech companies in 2025, with 85 firms focused on payments. Electronic payments reached 85% of retail transactions by the end of 2025, up from 79% the prior year. National payment systems processed 14.6 billion transactions in 2025, compared with 12.6 billion in 2024. Venture debt in the sector exceeded 18.8 billion riyals and cumulative venture capital surpassed 10.1 billion riyals, including 2.33 billion in 2025. Cross-border payment providers have enabled real-time riyal payouts, and inbound flows into the Kingdom were projected at $232 billion for the year.

Real estate figures show a large local market. Saudi real estate funds approach 300 billion riyals within a management sector above 1.2 trillion riyals. Debt issuance secured by property has passed 35 billion riyals. Investment in property technology was close to 35 million riyals, a notable difference between asset size and technology funding.

Officials and industry participants have highlighted targets and programmatic commitments. Risks noted by analysts include the registry failing to attract routine volume, a restrictive stablecoin rulebook preventing the planned settlement layer from operating, and targets or mandates not translating into deployed capital.

Observers will monitor whether the registry processes routine transfers at scale, whether the stablecoin framework permits the scheduled use for real estate settlement, whether third parties build on the open API, and whether the Public Investment Fund converts its tokenization mandate into deployed assets.