AquaIndex to Launch Pioneering Water Token for UAE Market
The water asset management company announces ambitious plans to establish a digital infrastructure for water reserves trading, positioning Dubai as a global centre for this transformative sector.
AquaIndex, a distinguished water asset management and pricing enterprise, has unveiled its strategy to introduce a dedicated regional water token for the United Arab Emirates, marking a significant evolution in its global expansion plans. The initiative represents a cornerstone development in the application of real-world asset tokenisation technology to the documentation, pricing, ownership management and trading of water reserves.
Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of DMCC, expressed considerable enthusiasm for the partnership forged in 2025. He remarked that the ambition has been unmistakably clear: to support the creation of what the organisation believes represents the world’s first digital asset token directly backed by freshwater resources, thereby fostering a more transparent international marketplace for water whilst establishing Dubai as a pre-eminent centre for this emergent sector. Through DMCC’s comprehensive ecosystem encompassing trade, logistics, technology and finance, the collaboration endeavours to introduce physical assets into blockchain-powered markets and cultivate improved stewardship of water resources.
The enterprise platform is anticipated to commence operations during the fourth quarter of 2026. This sophisticated infrastructure has been engineered to establish standardised digital representations of certified physical water reserves, facilitating comprehensive documentation, tracking and management of underlying assets. The system incorporates an automated physical redemption and logistics engine, seamlessly connecting smart-contract execution with physical delivery at certified reservoir and distribution locations, thus enabling water token holders to exchange their allocations for physical water through established delivery infrastructure.
AquaIndex’s initial physical tokens derive their backing from water sourced from a regulated aquifer in the United States of America. The preliminary asset base designated for tokenisation encompasses up to eleven billion barrels of water, with an estimated aggregate value of approximately five billion United States dollars. The associated delivery network comprises more than twenty miles of existing pipeline infrastructure, with individual pipelines offering prospective physical delivery capacity of approximately three hundred thousand barrels per day at considerable scale.
Yaacov Shirazi, Chairman and Founder of AquaIndex, elucidated that the company is constructing the technology layer capable of connecting the physical resource with transparent pricing, verified ownership and efficient delivery mechanisms. He emphasised that the UAE, characterised by its established global commodities ecosystem and progressively sophisticated digital infrastructure, constitutes an integral component of the company’s international expansion trajectory. Shirazi observed that the company transcends mere asset digitalisation, instead establishing the infrastructure that connects the digital representation of water to the physical resource itself, encompassing verification, documentation, redemption and delivery.
The company is concurrently developing its infrastructure upon the Canton Network, including the operation of a dedicated Canton Network Validator Node to reinforce data privacy and secure transactions. Simultaneously, AquaIndex is deploying its principal smart-contract infrastructure upon Ethereum Virtual Machine architecture, facilitating interoperability with complementary digital technologies and automated logistics systems. Initial commodity allocations and secondary-market integrations are expected to commence operations by the conclusion of 2026, with supplementary international reserve assets and commercial applications projected to progress as the platform expands, alongside the exploration of development opportunities throughout the Gulf Cooperation Council region to strengthen water security.
Source: WAM