DUBAI, 10th November, 2026 (WAM) -- The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), the independent regulator of financial services conducted in or from Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), has issued a white paper examining the conditions required to support the responsible development and scaling of tokenised financial assets and related market infrastructure.
Titled “Scaling Tokenisation: The Road Ahead”, the paper was launched at the Future Tokenisation Forum on 5th November.
It examines tokenisation as it moves from experimentation towards practical use across financial products and market infrastructure, noting that while more tokenised products and infrastructure applications are entering live use, adoption remains concentrated in specific asset classes and use cases.
The paper draws on structured interviews with practitioners from BlackRock, Ripple, Robinhood, Soter Insure and Standard Chartered, alongside DFSA expertise and publicly available regulatory, industry and market research.
It identifies five themes expected to shape the next phase of tokenisation: network effects, cross-border coordination and common standards, regulated custody, access to digital cash and interoperability.
The paper notes that broader network participation will be essential for tokenisation to scale, requiring issuers, investors, intermediaries, infrastructure providers, technology firms and settlement-asset providers to connect across a wider ecosystem.
It also highlights the importance of greater consistency in legal, operational and technical standards across jurisdictions to reduce fragmentation and provide clearer conditions for investment and market participation.
The DFSA said regulated custody will be important in addressing institutional concerns around security and risk management, while trusted forms of digital cash on-chain will be necessary to unlock benefits such as simultaneous settlement.
Potential settlement models include regulated stablecoins, tokenised commercial bank deposits and wholesale central bank money.
The paper also stresses the importance of interoperability between blockchains, trading platforms and traditional and tokenised market infrastructure to avoid isolated systems that fragment liquidity.
It notes that tokenisation is unlikely to pose a material risk to financial stability at its current scale, although its implications could increase as tokenised markets grow, become more interconnected with traditional finance and expand across trading, settlement, collateral and funding markets.
Mark Steward, CEO of the DFSA, said the focus across major international financial centres is shifting from whether tokenisation can work to how it will work and what changes will be required in existing markets.
He added that technology alone will not determine the future of tokenisation, with success also depending on trusted market infrastructure, effective governance and risk management, legal and regulatory certainty, interoperability, commercial viability and cooperation between the public and private sectors.
Steward said no single company, regulator or jurisdiction can address these issues alone, adding that the white paper brings together perspectives from across the market to support further dialogue among industry participants, investors, regulators, policymakers and international standard-setters.
The white paper does not prescribe a particular technological, regulatory or commercial outcome, but presents different market perspectives and identifies areas requiring continued public-private discussion.