Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has issued a warning to firms falsely claiming involvement in the city's real estate tokenization pilot program. The warning, released on Tuesday, cautions against misrepresenting participation in the Dubai Land Department's (DLD) blockchain-based property title initiative, which launched as a limited pilot on March 19.
VARA, in coordination with the DLD, emphasized that only entities explicitly approved by both organizations are authorized to participate. The regulator stated that any entity promoting their involvement without formal confirmation is misrepresenting their status and potentially violating virtual asset laws.
This alert comes before the Token 2049 conference in Dubai. The tokenization initiative could represent 7% of all real estate transactions, valued at $16 billion by 2033, as part of Dubai's push to become a global tech and digital asset hub. VARA did not name any specific companies in its announcement, but on-chain investigator ZachXBT noted that the conference tends to attract scams.