Author: Weilin, PANews
On January 9, MANTRA, a blockchain Layer 1 project for tokenizing real-world assets (RWA), announced that it had reached an agreement with Dubai-based real estate group DAMAC Group to tokenize at least $1 billion of the group’s assets in the UAE.
In the RWA track, MANTRA (OM) has been active in the past year. It was launched on the mainnet in October 2024, and the token has seen a significant increase since then. According to Coingecko data, from January 1 to December 25, 2024, MANTRA (OM) rose by 6418.3% throughout the year, with the price rising from $0.0584 on January 1 to $3.81 on December 25, becoming the best performing RWA investment project in 2024.
The Middle East has become a business focus, and $1 billion in assets will be tokenized here
John Mullin, co-founder and CEO of MANTRA, told the outside world that DAMAC’s support “is a huge vote of confidence in the future of RWA tokenization.”
DAMAC is a well-known real estate developer owned by the Hussain Sajwani family based in the UAE. The group's investments are divided into seven core areas: real estate, capital markets, hotels and resorts, manufacturing, catering, high-end fashion and data centers. Some of the most notable entities of the DAMAC Group include DAMAC Properties. DAMAC has acquired Italian fashion brand Roberto Cavalli and Swiss luxury jewelry brand de GRISOGONO. It also developed the 50-story development project DAMAC Towers Nine Elms in London and a luxury resort in the Maldives.
According to reports from The Guardian and the Associated Press, founder Hussain Sajwani is a close friend and partner of Trump. According to a report from CNBC, US President-elect Trump recently announced that UAE billionaire Hussain Sajwani has pledged at least $20 billion in foreign investment to build new data centers in the United States.
This time, the new agreement between the two parties aims to provide token-based financing for DAMAC's portfolio companies, covering real estate, hospitality and data center sectors. This cooperation will increase investment accessibility and simplify the process, and the tokenization of these assets is expected to begin in early 2025.
Currently, MANTRA has operations in Hong Kong, Singapore and several other regions, with its main operational focus being in the Middle East, particularly Dubai.
Last year, MANTRA also reached an agreement with developer MAG Property Development to tokenize real estate assets with a total value of US$500 million, starting with a residential project in Dubai.
In addition, MANTRA has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Zand Bank, a digital bank authorized by the Central Bank of the UAE. The collaboration between the two entities will focus on developing a framework to support the tokenization and distribution of RWAs in compliance with the regulations of the Dubai Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA).
2024 answer sheet: 11 million in financing, mainnet launch
Judging from the official annual review, MANTRA has been very active in 2024. As early as March 2024, MANTRA completed a financing of US$11 million, led by Shorooq Partners. Two months later, MANTRA received a strategic investment from Laser Digital, a digital asset subsidiary of Nomura Securities.
At present, MANTRA has developed the RWA suite, including digital identity (DID), compliance system MANTRA Guard, token management system MTS, decentralized exchange (DEX) and liquidity efficient emission protocol (LEEP). These modules work together to enable RWA tokenized assets to be effectively managed and circulated within a compliance framework.
Among them, the comprehensive module MANTRA Token Service (MTS) allows the creation, management and control of tokenized assets on the MANTRA Chain. The main features include: token factory, configurable workflow, administrator permissions, comprehensive token management (minting, destruction, seizure, freezing, distribution), built-in functions, jurisdiction compliance and bank module integration.
MANTRA DEX (decentralized exchange) introduces a protocol-layer liquidity pool system that forms the core of the platform's decentralized finance (DeFi), creating a permissionless environment that provides blockchain-integrated liquidity, ad hoc whitelisted liquidity pools, and operates as a standard automated market maker (AMM) exchange mechanism.
MANTRA LEEP (Liquidity Efficient Emission Protocol) is currently under development to address the liquidity shortage problem prevalent in the crypto market, especially for assets outside of top cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. LEEP aims to solve the problem of providing liquidity for tokenized real-world assets, which are generally illiquid even in traditional markets.
The MANTRA mainnet will be launched on October 23, 2024. Users will be able to perform several important activities, including: bridging OM tokens from ERC-20 to MANTRA mainnet tokens to gain access to future RWA tokens; users can stake OM to help secure the network and receive on-chain staking rewards; OM will become an important part of the RWA ledger; earn KARMA by completing new tasks on the mainnet.
Claims to still be in the first phase, bringing high-quality assets to the chain
MANTRA CEO Mullin told an X Space last year that the project aims to become a record book for asset issuance or RWA.
He said: "For the mass adoption of RWA, both in the retail market and at the broader market level, we need a public blockchain that is compatible with the broader DeFi ecosystem. At the same time, we have built a permissionless layer in MANTRA that allows asset issuers, tokenization platforms and regulated trading venues to issue, distribute and manage RWA easily, simply and compliantly."
He also mentioned MANTRA’s work in expanding its DApp ecosystem, which includes secondary markets, an upcoming permissioned on-chain RWA liquidity hub, Omega, and collaborations with various DeFi providers on lending, borrowing, and fractional real estate products. He also mentioned explorations in private credit, payments, and carbon credits.
Looking ahead, Mullin outlined a three-phase approach to developing the RWA space: “Right now, we are in phase one, focusing on the supply side, bringing high-quality assets on-chain. Phase two will focus on liquidity and secondary market venues, while the final phase will unlock the composability of RWAs, enabling them to be used in different DeFi applications.”
MANTRA, which he leads, has an ambitious plan: "I hope that by the end of 2026, we can reach $100 billion in RWA TVL. At the moment, we are really teaching people one by one how to operate on the chain, which is very slow. But we are really attracting new funds, new capital, and people who have never done it before. This is a very powerful thing. Over time, it will form a snowball effect and eventually bring us to the top position of RWA. But it will take time."
In general, MANTRA's cooperation with DAMAC marks the further application of blockchain technology in the field of tokenized real estate in the Middle East, and also provides new opportunities for the RWA track. With MANTRA's continued expansion in the RWA field, the project may have demonstrated its strength that cannot be underestimated. Can MANTRA become a leader in RWA? PANews will pay close attention to the follow-up.
