Valereum PLC (AQSE:VLRM) business development lead Mark Mariampillai talked with Proactive about the company’s new collaboration with DigiShares and ZIGChain. Mariampillai explained that this partnership will establish an institutional-grade platform for real-world asset tokenisation, combining Valereum’s regulatory compliance, DigiShares’ white label platform, and ZIGChain’s blockchain technology.
He noted: “The one key problem with RWA tokenisation is liquidity. And we try to solve the three biggest problems that are holding back tokenisation, which are access, liquidity and compliance.”
The partnership is expected to target the MENA and Central and South American regions first, with an emphasis on real estate tokenisation. According to Mariampillai, real estate developers in the MENA region are already in discussions to issue tokens for both new and existing properties. Beyond property, he highlighted opportunities in royalties, private companies, and fund tokenisation.
The interview also addressed the potential development of a regulated decentralised exchange (DEX) for real-world assets. Mariampillai said this would be the first whitelisted RWA DEX where users could complete KYC and AML processes before participating in trading. He highlighted that this development could provide long-term shareholder value through transaction fees and return on investment.
Proactive:Mark, very good to speak with you today. Can you explain what this collaboration means for Valereum and how it fits into your broader strategy in asset tokenisation?
Mark Mariampillai: Sure, Stephen, thanks for having me on here. The RNS released earlier this week really marks the beginning of a strategic collaboration between Valereum PLC, DigiShares, and ZIGChain. At its core, it's about building an institutional-grade platform for real-world tokenisation. Valereum brings the regulatory compliance angle of a PLC, DigiShares brings the white label platform, and ZIGChain brings the L1 tokenisation blockchain, designed around wealth management and real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation.
Now it fits into our broader strategy because the one key problem with RWA tokenisation is liquidity. We try to solve the three biggest problems holding back tokenisation: access, liquidity, and compliance. Through this partnership, assets will be issued, managed transparently, traded peer-to-peer on chain, and distributed to both institutions and qualified investors worldwide.
In short, we'll focus on deployment in the MENA and Central and South American regions with partners already in the ZIGChain ecosystem and DigiShares. But the long-term vision is global. Personally, I’ve worked in Web3 for years and along with Pete, we’ve focused on this partnership with ZIGChain. Again, the big problem we’re solving here is supply-side liquidity.
Proactive: Mark, how does the use of ZIGChain and DigiShares technology enhance your platform?
Mark Mariampillai: We can mint on any chain — Ethereum, Polygon, AVAX, the main L1 chains. This ties into the issue of buy-side liquidity. ZIGChain, which is an L1 on Cosmos, is bringing in high-net-worth individuals, institutions, and corporates into a 200 million AUM fund. They already have over one million customers and a retail angle as well.
We can plug into these other chains, and some issuances will be there. But we’re bringing Valereum Markets institutional issuances onto ZIGChain because it plugs instantly into supply-side liquidity. Issuers want that. On the flip side, we can also plug into their vaults, which are derivatives of RWAs that can be traded on decentralised exchanges (DEXs). Retail can participate and earn yield from these RWA tokens.
For DigiShares, this expands their client base with another client and gives them an opportunity to promote the platform to their wider network.
Proactive: You mentioned institutional-grade infrastructure. What kind of clients or use cases are you targeting first, particularly in the MENA region?
Mark Mariampillai: Real estate is the big one and the primary use case for tokenisation. In MENA, we’re in talks with developers. I can’t name them yet, but they would be onboarded through DigiShares and Valereum Markets to issue real estate RWA tokens for both new builds and existing projects.
ZIGChain will then plug that into its infrastructure. Beyond real estate, there are other asset classes such as royalties, private companies, and fund tokenisation. But the market today is clearly led by the real estate angle.
Proactive: Long term, how do you see Valereum’s involvement in developing a regulated RWA-focused decentralised exchange contributing to shareholder value?
Mark Mariampillai: We included that in our RNS. We are exploring, with DigiShares and ZIGChain, the development of the first whitelisted RWA DEX. People would be able to onboard, complete KYC, AML, and compliantly plug in and trade beyond peer-to-peer. It is similar to AUM pools you see in platforms like AIV or Uniswap.
Liquidity providers can add liquidity. I see this contributing to ROI for Valereum. As the market grows, there will be a need for a DEX to trade RWAs. We would benefit from transaction fees, ZIGChain from TVL, and Valereum from ROI.
Proactive: Mark, I hope you’ll keep us posted on progress with this collaboration. Thank you very much for speaking with us today.