AWARP, a financial infrastructure project focused on emerging markets, has secured a strategic investment from Animoca Brands to support the development of real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and cross-border payment networks.

In a statement on Wednesday, Animoca Brands said the two sides would collaborate on on-chain financial infrastructure initiatives in ASEAN and other emerging markets, with a focus on regulated stablecoins, asset tokenization, and digital payment systems.

AWARP plans to use regulated stablecoins as its primary settlement mechanism to connect local economies in ASEAN with global liquidity networks. The system is intended to support processes including asset issuance, on-chain clearing, and payment flows.

Lao National Digital Technology Group (LADT), AWARP’s implementation partner in Laos and the ASEAN region, will focus on tokenizing assets including minerals, renewable energy resources, and artificial intelligence data centers. LADT will also work on developing on-chain settlement and liquidity systems aimed at linking digital and real-world assets.

Animoca Brands will support AWARP in areas including asset issuance, application development, and user expansion. The company will also assist in exploring regulated stablecoin applications. The investment is expected to strengthen the market position of both AWARP and LADT and support their regional initiatives related to trade, digital payments, real-world assets, and cross-border settlement systems.

Richard Ma, CEO of AWARP, said the partnership would support the company’s efforts to expand financial infrastructure and payment systems in ASEAN markets.

Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, said regulated stablecoins could help connect traditional financial systems with blockchain-based networks, adding that AWARP’s activities in Laos and ASEAN demonstrated how on-chain systems could integrate with regional economies.

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