Published 2026-07-24
Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Capital has put a private markets fund on the blockchain, tokenising it across three networks in a deal that also drew Coinbase in as an investor. Announced on 2026-07-23, the tokenised version of Mubadala Capital's Alternative Solutions Fund, issued as the MCAS-TA token, gathered around $75 million in onchain commitments at launch, including exposure taken by Coinbase on its own balance sheet. The infrastructure comes from Kaio, an Abu Dhabi fintech regulated in ADGM. For companies and qualified investors connected to the UAE, the move is another signal that the Emirates is building itself into a regulated home for tokenised real-world assets.
What Mubadala Capital actually did
Mubadala Capital is the asset-management arm of Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi sovereign investor that sits on an asset base of roughly $385 billion. Rather than launching a new crypto product, it took an existing institutional strategy, its Alternative Solutions Fund covering private equity, private credit, venture capital and co-investment, and issued a tokenised share class of it onchain.
The token, MCAS-TA, runs simultaneously across three blockchains: Base, Solana and Sui. That multi-chain design lets the same regulated fund interest settle on whichever network an investor already uses, instead of forcing everyone onto a single ledger. The tokenisation itself is handled by Kaio, an ADGM-based provider that has previously powered tokenised offerings for managers such as BlackRock and Hamilton Lane and now runs somewhere between $150 million and $200 million across more than ten blockchains. Kaio and Mubadala Capital first announced their partnership in December 2025.
Why Coinbase buying in matters
The headline is not only the $75 million raised, but who put money in. Coinbase took exposure to the tokenised fund on its own corporate balance sheet, which the parties describe as the first time a major US public company has used a regulated tokenised asset for its own onchain treasury management.
That is a meaningful validation. A listed, regulated US exchange choosing a UAE-issued, ADGM-regulated tokenised fund for treasury use tells other institutions that these instruments are mature enough to hold, not just to trade. "Bringing it onchain extends that access to a new class of qualified investors without compromising the institutional discipline," said Max Franzetti, Head of Mubadala Capital Solutions. Coinbase Institutional co-CEO Brett Tejpaul pointed to "the growing maturity of regulated real-world assets" as the reason for taking part.
Opening private markets beyond the giants
Private markets funds like this one have traditionally been the preserve of a narrow circle: sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and endowments large enough to meet high minimums and long lock-ups. Tokenisation changes the mechanics. By representing fund interests as tokens, the strategy becomes available to a broader pool of qualified global investors, with faster settlement and lower administrative cost than the paper-based subscription process private funds usually rely on.
It is important to be precise about who this reaches. This is not a retail product. Access still runs through qualified and professional investor rules. What changes is that the class of investors who can realistically participate widens beyond the largest institutions, and the plumbing that moves their money becomes faster and cheaper.
The bigger tokenisation wave, and Abu Dhabi's place in it
The Mubadala Capital deal lands in the middle of a fast-growing market for tokenised real-world assets. That market reached around $30 billion in early 2026, up roughly 300% year on year, with BlackRock's tokenised BUIDL fund alone passing $2.5 billion by May 2026. Longer-run projections for tokenised assets run into the trillions by the early 2030s.
What stands out here is the geography. The issuer is Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Capital, the tokenisation infrastructure is an ADGM-regulated UAE fintech, and the regulatory home is the Emirates. Alongside DMCC's growing digital-asset ecosystem, this cements the UAE as one of the places where regulated tokenisation is actually being done rather than just discussed. For a business or fund weighing where to base digital-asset or tokenisation activity, that regulatory track record matters.
What it means for business in the UAE
- The UAE, and Abu Dhabi's ADGM in particular, is establishing itself as a credible base for regulated tokenisation and digital-asset infrastructure, backed by a sovereign-linked issuer.
- Qualified and professional investors gain a new route into institutional private markets strategies, with faster settlement and lower cost than traditional subscriptions.
- Fintech, fund and asset-management firms have a clear precedent for launching tokenised or digital-asset products from a UAE free zone under a recognised regulator.
- The validation from a listed US institution lowers the perceived risk of building regulated onchain products from the Emirates.
- Access remains gated by qualified investor rules, so structure, licensing and compliance still need to be set up correctly from the start.
How Atlant Capital can help
Turning UAE momentum in tokenisation and digital assets into a real business still runs through the fundamentals: the right regulator, the right structure and clean banking. Atlant Capital helps fintech, fund and investment firms choose the right jurisdiction and complete company setup in the UAE, then move on to corporate bank account opening so the entity can actually operate. If your plans touch digital assets or regulated fund activity, we help scope licensing and compliance before you commit. For the wider context, see our guide on DMCC deepening its digital-asset ecosystem and on ADIA anchoring a major international IPO.
Conclusion
Mubadala Capital tokenising a private markets fund across Base, Solana and Sui, with Coinbase taking exposure through Abu Dhabi's Kaio, is a concrete step in the UAE's push to be a regulated home for tokenised assets. The near-term impact is narrow, aimed at qualified investors and institutions. The longer-term signal is broader: the Emirates is not waiting for tokenisation to mature elsewhere, it is helping to build it. Companies planning digital-asset, fund or fintech activity should treat the UAE as a serious base, and get their structure and licensing right from day one.
