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Open World Ltd. said it has established what it described as “Saudi Arabia’s first RWA Tokenization Center of Excellence,” and announced the initiative from Al Khobar in the Kingdom’s Eastern Province. The company framed the Center as an in-country operating base intended to support tokenization activity under Saudi regulatory requirements.
In the same release, Open World stated that the Center is intended to support compliant tokenization across multiple asset categories, including real estate, energy infrastructure, sovereign bonds, carbon reduction credits and regulated stablecoins, while maintaining compliance with Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) and Capital Market Authority (CMA) requirements. The company also listed “real estate development financing” among its initial focus areas, alongside certain energy-asset use cases and on-chain verification and storage of carbon reduction credits.
Open World added that it expects the Center to commence full operations in 2026 and said initial pilot projects are targeted for a mid-year launch, but did not disclose specific license numbers, pilot counterparties, product structures, or investor eligibility criteria. The announcement follows Open World’s earlier merger-related disclosure, in which it said it planned a strategic merger with VerifyMe, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRME).
The regulatory framing is relevant because tokenization activity in Saudi Arabia intersects with the mandates of both market and banking supervisors. The CMA describes its role as overseeing the organization and development of the capital market and issuing implementing rules, while SAMA is listed as the Kingdom’s central bank. Open World also linked the initiative to Saudi Vision 2030’s Financial Sector Development Program, which is presented as an official program under the Vision 2030 framework.
For issuers, platforms, and institutional market participants evaluating Saudi-based tokenization pathways—particularly where “real estate development financing” is a stated use case—the announcement primarily affects expectations around local operating presence, rather than immediately changing market access, because Open World did not publish operational details such as licensing documentation, custody and settlement arrangements, or offering parameters.
