The cryptocurrency market is still very much in the doldrums in 2026, but investors are still hanging onto the main digital assets themes in hopes of bright days. One of those themes is the future of real world asset (RWA) tokenization. 

In his March 2026 annual letter, BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) CEO Larry Fink wrote that tokenization could update the financial system’s "plumbing" by making securities easier to issue, easier to trade and easier to access. He specifically connected this new technology – most of it connected to Web3 blockchain projects – with broader access to infrastructure and private credit, markets that have historically have been difficult for ordinary investors to enter. 

The infrastructure theme is well known in crypto. New companies have been created because of this space as it is all-encompassing; focusing on every digital asset bucket from RWAs to AI and stablecoins.  Actual assets that will get to play in the RWA sandbox beyond fiat currency and Treasury bonds is still a mystery, and a high risk bet. 

Ethra Ship, which is backed by the five year old Dubai-based firm Ethra Invest, entered that market this summer — in an attempt to tokenize aspects of the maritime logistics industry for qualified investors. Stripped of the tech lingo, Ethra is trying to build two businesses on top of an existing three dry bulk container vessel shipping operation. One is a vessel-finance business. The other is a maritime-data network, the real money pot of RWAs, some experts believe. The Ethra SHIP token belongs to the second business.

"We did not create a token and then start looking for a business to support it. We started with real vessels, real maritime operations, and real industry experience to tokenize," said Saeed Al-Marri, Founder and CEO of Ethra Invest. "Blockchain came later as a way to improve access to maritime investment and build new digital services for the industry," he said in an email interview. 

Maritime RWAs for Experienced Investors

The company’s first maritime RWA is expected to be a vessel-backed credit offering. Investors in SHIP would be financing a defined Ethra vessel or vessel-owning structure under predetermined terms. Their return comes from the interest and principal repayment obligations described in the investment documents. In other words, investors are not buying shares in the Dubai investment firm. 

The token project is subject to regulatory approval and final offering documents.

The likely structure will be a dry-bulk goods vessel-owning company or special-purpose vehicle borrows money and investors purchase tokenized debt issued by that structure. They would receive interest and repayment of principal. The ship, charter contracts and related rights could potentially secure the loan but investors do not necessarily (if at all) receive charter profits or benefit from an increase in the vessel’s resale price.

Economically, this resembles a commercial real-estate loan secured by a building, except the collateral is a ship. And the blockchain token is the digital representation and distribution mechanism for the loan as SHIP is not a vessel-backed investment. It is intended to be the utility token for Ethra’s Sea Verity, the company’s maritime-intelligence network that proposes to supplement conventional Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking data with photographs and reports submitted by seafarers, port workers, coastal observers and other approved contributors. Artificial intelligence would organize the evidence, while token-staking controller nodes would validate it. Customers would spend $SHIP to purchase the resulting intelligence; contributors and validators would earn it from what I understand about the project. 

Ethra Ship’s Competitor Landscape

Like every other RWA project that is not a Treasury bond or a stablecoin, Ethra does not have a lot of rivals in the field.

The main ones are Singaporean RWA issuer Galactica, which offers tokenized ship finance on the InvestaX platform in the same country. In April, Galactica closed Pegasus 2, a tokenized maritime bridge loan, raising $1.5 million from accredited investors over a four-week subscription window. That was their second consecutive tokenized ship financing offer. In January, they completed their first $25 million tokenized bridge-financing transaction for an LNG vessel. 

Galactica is the best comparable to Ethra.

London-based Shipfinex is another player in Ethra’s space, which offers fractional ownership of individual vessels. Their social media presence on X suggest they are also relatively new, and small. Greek firm Ships Tokenization is early stage and offers vessel ownership via RWA tokenization. Ships Tokenization also allows for charter income, paid in stablecoins. 

Shipfinex and Ships Tokenization seem to be the cleanest RWA as investors own part of a physical ship.

Galactica looks more like Ethra’s benchmark. Ethra has the operating sponsor and vessels. But for now, Galactica has the more advanced tokenized-finance transaction record.

Why Bother Putting This On The Blockchain? 

The question some investors might have is, why do this on the blockchain? Why get into the RWA market at all? 

But for executives that are more future-focused, blockchain is akin to AI. They believe it will improve the entire maritime financing ecosystem.  Blockchain can provide more transparent ownership and transaction records, more efficient distributions, programmable compliance, smaller investment denominations for investors, and potentially easier transfers between eligible investors.

"Our objective is not to commodify shipping for speculation. It is to create a more transparent and efficient way to finance maritime assets while preserving the legal protections and operational standards expected by professional investors," said Al-Marri. "Building and putting this on a blockchain does not replace the legal structure, the vessel mortgage, the charter contracts, the ship manager, or the regulatory requirements," he said. "The token represents the rights defined in legal offering documents. It is not simply a digital image or an informal claim over a vessel."

Traditional crypto-native investment analysts like Galaxy and Messari haven’t put out any reports on RWAs for the shipping industry.  This market is too tiny to warrant it. 

However, earlier this year, India’s Research and Information System for Developing Countries, put out a report on ship tokenization, surprisingly. The report authors argued that ships are logical tokenization candidates because they are capital-intensive, illiquid assets with identifiable income streams. They also believe tokenization could broaden the investor base and facilitate secondary transfers.

The paper’s model is predominantly fractional ship ownership rather than debt financing.

Ethra Invest is a traditional finance firm in the UAE, with money in private equity and global stocks and bonds held for their wealth management clients. For Al-Marri, RWA in maritime is not something he envisions only for investors who know the difference between Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH).

"Our discussions with traditional maritime and investment partners have shown that they understand vessel-backed debt very well," he said. "They are familiar with charter income, vessel valuations, loan-to-value ratios, security packages, and repayment structures. Crypto investors are usually more familiar with blockchain-based settlement, digital assets, and on-chain transparency. Traditional investors focus more on the underlying vessel, contractual protections, and cash flows. Our responsibility is to bring these two worlds together without confusing them."

The writer of this article invests in Bitcoin and Ethereum. Artwork created by the author using Canva.

Benzinga Disclaimer: This article is from an unpaid external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga’s reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.