Hancom With Establishes Gold RWA Joint Venture in Dubai... Accelerates Global Expansion of 'Gold Token' Business

From the left, Sangyeop Song, CEO of HancomWITH; Salem Ahmed Mohamed Almazrouei, CEO of ADGT; and Jungwon Lee, CEO of Cast Holdings, are commemorating the signing of a joint venture agreement for gold RWA establishment on the 2nd in Dubai.

Hancom With is launching a joint venture (JV) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), to enter the Middle Eastern digital finance market by promoting a gold real-world asset (RWA) tokenization business. The company is establishing a structure that directly manages the entire process from physical gold procurement, leveraging a Tanzanian gold mine and Dubai’s local distribution network, to token issuance and redemption.

On September 3, Hancom With announced that it had signed a joint venture agreement in Dubai with Al Dhafra Al Gharbia Gold Trading (ADGT), a UAE-based gold trading company, and Cast Holdings, a global business development company. This is a follow-up to the tripartite memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed in July. Over approximately two months, the companies completed local legal and regulatory reviews and designed the business structure, culminating in the establishment of the corporation.

The joint venture’s total capital is USD 800,000. Hancom With and ADGT each hold a 40% stake, and Cast Holdings holds a 20% stake.

The three companies have defined their respective roles. ADGT is responsible for the procurement, refining, and storage of physical gold based on the Tanzanian gold mine project and the UAE’s local distribution network. Hancom With will be in charge of establishing and operating a system for token issuance and redemption, converting the secured physical gold into on-chain assets. Cast Holdings will leverage its business development capabilities across Korea, China, and the UAE to support collaboration and the development of an operational system with local entities and businesses.

The core of this JV is the integration of the physical gold supply and token issuance into a single business structure. The joint venture oversees the entire process—from procurement and storage, to reserve verification, token issuance, and redemption—under one entity. This structure is expected to increase interoperability between physical assets and on-chain tokens, compared to existing models where the physical gold supply chain and the token issuer operate separately.

Regulatory compliance is being addressed from the early stages of the business. The joint venture plans to initiate procedures to meet the licensing requirements of the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) in Dubai. Measures for anti-money laundering (AML), know-your-customer (KYC), and Sharia compliance necessary for entry into Islamic financial markets will also be included in the business structure. The consistency between the amount of physical gold held and the tokens issued will be disclosed regularly through independent third-party verification.

Hancom With will also be able to strengthen the supply chain of physical assets for its existing gold token business through this JV.

In April, Hancom With launched 'Ontorium,' a physical asset blockchain platform jointly built with its affiliate AB Labs, in the global market. Ontorium issues the gold token 'OXAU' based on 99.99% pure physical gold certified by the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA). It is designed to link each gold bar’s unique serial number to the blockchain, allowing the tracking of correspondence between individual tokens and specific bars of gold.

The competitiveness of the gold RWA business depends not only on token issuance technology, but also on secure access to a stable supply of physical gold. This JV is evaluated as significant in establishing a physical asset procurement base, a key element for the gold token business, by incorporating the Tanzanian gold mine and the UAE distribution network into its business structure.

The three companies will first establish a structure for issuing OXAU tokens using physical gold procured through the ADGT supply chain. Going forward, they plan to expand the business scope to include on-chain mining finance contracts based on gold production volume and other initiatives.

Sangyeop Song, CEO of Hancom With, said, "While the agreement in July set the direction, the formation of this joint venture has completed the organization and system needed to execute the business. Based on reliable technology and a robust business structure connecting physical assets and blockchain, we will solidify our position in the Middle Eastern market and expand our business globally."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.