The financing of commercial vessels could be moving toward blockchain infrastructure as ADI Chain teams up with Dubai-based Shipfinex to explore tokenized ship investments.
Commercial vessels worldwide are estimated to be worth around $2 trillion, but the capital used to buy and build those ships remains concentrated among established shipowners, banks and specialist financing firms. The relationship-heavy model can make the market difficult for smaller operators and new sources of investment to enter.
ADI Chain and Shipfinex are seeking to change that by bringing part of the maritime financing system onto blockchain rails. The companies estimate that bank lending, leasing and export-credit financing linked to commercial shipping currently represents about $680 billion.
Ramana Kumar, president of the stablecoin ecosystem at ADI Foundation, said maritime finance has the combination of scale, physical assets and economic activity needed to develop into a significant real-world asset category.
The initiative also illustrates how blockchain tokenization is expanding beyond financial assets such as government debt and money-market products. Companies are increasingly looking at physical infrastructure, including ships and other capital-intensive assets, as candidates for blockchain-based financing.
Under the partnership, Shipfinex will source potential vessels and develop the investment structures around them. That includes determining which ships qualify, assessing their value and deciding how each transaction should be arranged.
ADI Chain will provide the blockchain infrastructure, converting those investment structures into digital tokens and supporting settlement through stablecoins. Because stablecoins are designed to track currencies such as the U.S. dollar and UAE dirham, they could enable payments to move without relying on conventional bank wires.
The initiative is initially intended for qualified institutional investors rather than retail buyers.
Shipfinex CEO Capt. Vikas Pandey said the partnership is intended to establish a regulated digital access point to maritime finance, with each instrument connected to the economics and legal structure of a specific vessel.
The project has yet to issue any maritime asset tokens, and Shipfinex does not yet have a full regulatory license to do so. The company currently holds an “In-Principle Approval” from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, which represents preliminary regulatory clearance rather than final authorization to operate the proposed business.
Shipfinex has already identified about 35 vessels with an aggregate value of approximately $500 million as potential assets for tokenization once the necessary regulatory approvals and transaction structures are in place.
Each vessel is expected to be held through a separate legal entity. This arrangement would help ring-fence individual investments, meaning financial difficulties affecting one ship would not automatically spill over to the others.
The economic exposure offered through future tokens could differ from deal to deal. Depending on the structure, investors might receive returns from a ship-backed loan, participate in revenue generated by shipping contracts or gain exposure to changes in the vessel’s economic value.
However, the tokens would not amount to direct legal ownership of the ships. Instead, they would represent financial rights connected to the underlying vessels, which would continue to be owned and operated through conventional commercial arrangements.
Shipping carries more than 80% of global merchandise trade by volume, according to the announcement, highlighting the size of the industry. Yet maritime assets remain a relatively small part of the tokenized real-world asset market, which is valued at roughly $38 billion.
The partnership also enters an emerging field with existing competitors. Galactica has completed tokenized vessel financing deals, including bridge financing for a 145,000-cubic-meter LNG carrier on InvestaX’s regulated platform. Ethra Ship launched another maritime RWA protocol in June using an existing shipping operation.
ADI Chain is an Abu Dhabi-based blockchain network focused on institutional applications. It was established by Sirius International Holding, the technology subsidiary of International Holding Company. The network already supports DDSC, a UAE Central Bank-licensed stablecoin backed by the dirham. IHC used DDSC earlier this year to settle a $30 million transaction on the network.
