New Blockchain Rail Emerges for the $2 Trillion Asset Economy

Blockchain infrastructure is moving deeper into traditional asset finance, with ADI Chain and Shipfinex preparing to bring commercial vessel financing onchain.

Commercial ships worldwide are estimated to be worth about $2 trillion, but the financing behind those assets is still largely controlled by established shipowners, banks and specialist lenders. That structure limits access for smaller shipping companies and investors outside the traditional maritime finance network.

The partnership between Abu Dhabi-based ADI Chain and Dubai-based Shipfinex is designed to widen that pool of capital. The companies estimate that roughly $680 billion is currently tied to ship financing through bank loans, leasing arrangements and export-credit programs.

Ramana Kumar, president of the stablecoin ecosystem at ADI Foundation, said the combination of physical assets, economic activity and market scale makes maritime finance a promising candidate for the next wave of real-world asset tokenization.

The move represents a shift in the blockchain industry’s approach to tokenized assets. Rather than focusing only on securities such as government bonds and money-market funds, projects are increasingly targeting physical infrastructure that requires significant amounts of capital.

Shipfinex will source and evaluate vessels, establish their valuations and design the investment structures attached to each ship. ADI Chain will then provide the blockchain infrastructure needed to represent those structures digitally.

The platform will also use stablecoins pegged to currencies such as the U.S. dollar and UAE dirham for settlement. That could allow funds to move between participants without the traditional delays associated with bank wires.

The first phase of the project will be restricted to qualified institutional investors, rather than opening the products to retail traders.

Shipfinex CEO Capt. Vikas Pandey said the goal is to create a regulated digital access point for maritime finance, with each investment instrument tied to the economics and legal framework of an individual vessel.

The proposed market has not launched yet. No vessel-backed tokens have been issued, and Shipfinex does not currently have a full regulatory license for the activity. Its approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority remains an “In-Principle Approval,” meaning the company has received preliminary clearance but not final authorization.

Shipfinex has identified around 35 vessels with a combined value of approximately $500 million that could eventually be tokenized. The deals will depend on completing the required regulatory approvals and finalizing their legal and financial structures.

Each vessel is expected to be placed into a separate legal entity. This structure would isolate the assets, reducing the risk that problems involving one ship would directly affect investors in another.

The rights attached to each token could vary. Depending on the deal, investors could gain exposure to interest from a vessel-backed loan, cash flow generated through shipping contracts or changes in the ship’s underlying economic value.

Such tokens would not provide direct ownership of the vessels. Instead, they would represent financial interests linked to the ships, while legal ownership and commercial operations would remain with the established entities controlling the assets.

The shipping industry accounts for more than 80% of global merchandise trade by volume, according to the announcement. Yet maritime assets represent only a small portion of the approximately $38 billion tokenized real-world asset market.

The partnership is entering an emerging sector that already has several participants. Galactica has completed tokenized vessel financing transactions, including bridge financing for a 145,000-cubic-meter LNG carrier through InvestaX’s regulated platform. Ethra Ship launched a separate maritime RWA protocol in June based on an existing shipping operation.

ADI Chain operates as an institutional blockchain platform in Abu Dhabi and was founded by Sirius International Holding, the technology subsidiary of International Holding Company. Its network supports DDSC, a dirham-backed stablecoin licensed by the UAE Central Bank. IHC used DDSC earlier this year for a $30 million transaction on the network.