Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Capital has partnered with institutional real-world asset (RWA) infrastructure provider Kaio to explore tokenized access to private market investment strategies, marking a push from sovereign-linked capital into blockchain rails.
The companies said Tuesday that the initiative will assess how Kaio’s digital framework could enable institutional and accredited investors to access Mubdala Capital’s private market products onchain.
The move signals interest in using RWA tokenization as a technological upgrade and a distribution layer for alternative assets traditionally gated behind high minimums, multi-year lockups and geographic limits.
While no product is being launched yet, the collaboration marks a step toward digitizing fund structures and potentially opening global access channels to one of the region’s largest asset managers.
Sovereign-linked asset manager leans into RWAs
Mubadala Capital manages, advises and administers over $430 billion in assets across private equity, credit, real estate and alternative strategies through its asset managers and investment platforms.
It’s a subsidiary of Mubalada Investment Company, one of the sovereign wealth funds of the government of Abu Dhabi.
On Nov. 19, Bloomberg reported that the Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC), another Mubadala subsidiary, held at least $500 million in BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Fatima Al Noaimi and Max Franzetti, the co-heads of Mubadala Capital Solutions, said in the announcement that the goal is to leverage regulatory-aligned infrastructure to test how digital rails can broaden access to institutional-grade products.
Kaio, which previously supported tokenized feeder structures for asset managers like BlackRock, Brevan Howard and Hamilton Lane, brought over $200 million in institutional assets onchain.
The company said the collaboration with Mubadala reflects momentum toward tokenized investment vehicles across public and private markets.
“This launch demonstrates how traditional institutional capital is now scaling onchain,” said Kaio CEO Shrey Rastogi.
Cointelegraph reached out to Kaio for more information, but had not received a response by publication.
Related: Tether's USDt awarded key regulatory status in Abu Dhabi
Tokenized RWAs to continue momentum in 2026
By engaging with tokenization infrastructure, the firm joins a growing group of institutional players exploring whether onchain mechanisms could simplify processes, reduce friction and eventually widen participation.
Digital asset investment company CoinShares previously reported that RWAs saw strong growth in 2025, led by tokenized US Treasurys. The report said that onchain Treasurys climbed from $3.9 billion to $8.6 billion this year.
The company predicted that this trend will continue through 2026, as global demand for dollar yield is expected to continue growing.
Apart from asset managers, infrastructure providers are also preparing to meet a surge in tokenized RWAs.
On Wednesday, Polygon deployed a hard fork that aims to reinforce its infrastructure and improve performance. The move seemed like a prerequisite for high-frequency use cases, such as stablecoin and RWA tokenization.
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