Dubai Opens Regulated Secondary Market for Tokenized Real Estate on XRP Ledger, Ripple Exec Reece Merrick Says

Dubai is not content with simply selling real estate to the world, it also wants you to trade it like a liquid asset, but only in the nice, supervised way. That is the central irony in the latest tokenization headline: secondary market trading, the part crypto people usually mean when they say "market," is now being introduced under a controlled, regulated framework.

On Feb. 20, Ripple executive Reece Merrick said the Dubai Land Department (DLD) has launched Phase Two of its Real Estate Tokenization Project, enabling controlled secondary market trading for tokenized properties on the XRP$1.1087 Ledger (XRPL), according to an X post highlighted by U.Today.^{[1] [2]}

No, this does not mean Dubai is turning apartments into meme coins. It means a government land authority is moving from a pilot to a structure where property-backed tokens can be resold under rules.^[3]

What actually launched, and what did not

Merrick's update points to a clear milestone: Phase Two adds secondary trading to an earlier pilot. In tokenization terms, the pilot phase is typically about issuance and record-keeping: create a token that represents a claim on a real-world asset, tie it to identity and compliance checks, and prove the plumbing works.

Secondary trading is different. It means holders can transfer or sell those tokens to other eligible participants, within defined constraints. That is where liquidity, price discovery, and investor demand (the parts everyone argues about on social media) start to matter.

What is still not disclosed in the available reporting:

• How many properties are tokenized so far
• Total value represented by tokens in this phase
• Who can trade (retail, accredited investors, institutions, UAE residents, foreign buyers)
• What venue is used (a specific platform, broker, exchange-like interface, or approved marketplace)
• Trading limits (holding periods, whitelist rules, transfer restrictions)

So yes, "secondary trading is live," but the meaningful metrics are still behind a curtain.

The numbers that matter here: settlement speed, fees, and control

Even without trade volume figures, the design choice is the story: Dubai is pairing regulated market structure with blockchain settlement.

XRPL's practical selling points tend to be mechanical:

• Finality in seconds: XRPL ledgers typically close every few seconds (often cited around 3 to 5 seconds in normal conditions).
• Low transaction costs: network fees are generally tiny, commonly described as fractions of a cent, because fees are meant to prevent spam, not to reward miners.
• High throughput architecture: XRPL is built for frequent transfers and payments rather than complex smart contract execution.

For tokenized real estate, those specifics matter less for "number go up" and more for operations. If a regulator wants transfers to be fast, traceable, and cheap enough to not punish small trades, those mechanics help.

But "controlled secondary market" is doing a lot of work in Merrick's phrasing. It implies the opposite of the free-for-all DeFi version, meaning:

• Identity checks are likely required (KYC, or know-your-customer).
• Transfer restrictions may apply (only approved wallets can receive tokens).
• Market surveillance is possible (monitoring for manipulation and prohibited activity).

That is not a bug for Dubai. It is the point.

Why secondary trading is the real test of tokenized real estate

Plenty of tokenization projects can mint tokens. The harder problem is getting those tokens to behave like a credible financial instrument after issuance.

Secondary trading introduces questions a pilot can avoid:

• Liquidity: Are there enough buyers and sellers to make trading functional, not just "available"?
• Pricing: Do tokens track appraisals, rental yield expectations, or local property cycles, or do they drift like a thinly traded altcoin?
• Market access: Can investors exit positions without negotiating paperwork for weeks?

Real estate is famously illiquid. Tokenization claims to improve that by enabling fractional ownership and faster settlement. Secondary trading is where the claim either earns its keep or quietly stops being mentioned in press releases.

Why XRPL is getting the nod in Dubai

Merrick's framing places the XRPL as the settlement rail for the DLD project, and that fits Ripple's broader pitch: regulated institutions want blockchain benefits, but not the "anything goes" culture.^[4]

XRPL is also not new infrastructure. It has long been positioned as a production-grade ledger for payments and token movements, with a history of uptime and a conservative feature set compared with general-purpose smart contract platforms.

That said, it is important to keep the scope straight:

• Tokenized real estate can be implemented in multiple ways, such as registered securities with transfer controls, fund-like units, or property-linked notes.
• The chain is the transport layer, but the legal rights sit off-chain in contracts, registries, and regulation.

If the Dubai Land Department is involved, the legal rails are likely the core. The blockchain is the efficiency layer.

"Regulated secondary market" is the headline, not "tokenized"

Dubai has spent years building a reputation for being fast on financial innovation, but it typically does it with guardrails. A regulated secondary market suggests coordination between land registry processes, licensing, and compliance requirements.

The key distinction: this is not a permissionless marketplace. A controlled secondary market implies:

• Participants are vetted.
• Assets are curated.
• Transfers are constrained by rules, not just wallet keys.

For real estate, that is arguably the only path that scales. Property rights are legal constructs. Regulators tend to care about who owns what, who can sell to whom, and what happens in disputes. Blockchains do not replace those obligations, they just speed up the parts that can be sped up.

Takeaways, minus the hype tax

1) Dubai is moving beyond pilots. Phase Two means officials are comfortable enough with the initial setup to allow resales, which is where most tokenization projects stall.

2) XRPL is being used as regulated infrastructure, not as a culture statement. This is about settlement and controllable transfers, not maximal decentralization.

3) The missing data is the real story now. Without disclosed tokenized value, property count, and trade volume, the market impact is impossible to quantify.

What to watch next (the practical checklist)

1. Trading stats: number of token holders, secondary trades, and turnover. Even a weekly volume figure would separate "enabled" from "used."
2. Access rules: whether non-residents can participate, and what investor class restrictions apply. Liquidity depends on who is allowed in.
3. Asset structure: are tokens direct fractional interests, fund units, or another wrapper. The legal form determines how transferable, taxable, and financeable these tokens really are.
4. Interoperability: whether tokens can move across approved venues or stay locked inside one marketplace. Walled gardens limit liquidity, even if the chain is public.
5. Failure handling: how disputes, rescissions, and property-level events (liens, maintenance issues, tenant disputes) are reflected in token holder rights.

Dubai is pitching a secondary market that is both "tradable" and "controlled," because of course it is. The next phase is simple: show the numbers, and show that real people actually trade these tokens when the novelty wears off.