On 13 January 2026, Asara Group and Bloom Technology — the South Korean developer of the Locus Chain blockchain — signed an agreement to build a Real-World Asset tokenisation platform for physical commodity trading. The target market: a global commodity sector worth roughly USD 6 trillion annually, where steel alone accounts for nearly USD 1.5 trillion in real-world assets.
Asara Group brings nearly two decades of regulated commodity trading history to the partnership. The firm ranks among the earliest companies established within Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) and holds a seat on the Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX), giving it direct participation in global commodity and derivatives markets. UAE regulators at the Securities and Commodities Authority oversee its operations. Beyond trading, Asara Group participates across the full physical commodity value chain — sourcing, processing, distribution, and large-scale industrial project development under BOT and BOO structures. The company reports cumulative EPC+F contract value exceeding EUR 8 billion across the MENA region and East Asia.
Bloom Technology contributes the infrastructure. Locus Chain, its Layer-1 public blockchain, targets throughput of 4,000 transactions per second at launch, with architecture built to scale into the hundreds of thousands of TPS as network participation grows. Two proprietary technologies underpin the design: Dynamic Sharding, which maintains network stability across variable conditions, and Verifiable Pruning, which reduces node size sufficiently to run on lightweight hardware — mini PCs and internet routers among them. Low entry barriers for node operators distinguish Locus Chain from blockchains that concentrate participation among high-capacity validators.
The gap between those two entities — one a physical commodity operator, one a blockchain infrastructure developer — reflects the core problem the partnership addresses. The global RWA tokenisation market currently sits at an estimated USD 20–35 billion. Industry analysts identify blockchain performance as the binding constraint: existing public chains lack the throughput, fee stability, and scalability needed to process commodity transactions at commercial volume. The commodity market, by contrast, handles trillions of dollars in annual transactions across energy, metals, minerals, and agricultural products through processes that remain opaque, fragmented, and difficult to access for smaller market participants.
Cyrus Arman, CEO of Asara Group, framed the ambition directly. “By leveraging Asara Group’s established track record and extensive industry network, we are confident that this platform can attract a broad range of companies and users and scale into a globally significant marketplace,” he said. Through the Locus Chain collaboration, he added, the partnership aims “to position commodity RWA tokenization trading as a global standard and, over the long term, develop into a leading platform shaping the future of global commodity trade.”
The execution follows a phased approach. Phase one targets the tokenisation of active commodity trading. Phase two extends into upstream assets — mines and mineral resources. The long-term vision calls for an open network drawing in major global commodity trading firms, with the goal of building something closer to a public market infrastructure than a proprietary platform.
Blockchain-based commodity trading carries structural advantages over legacy systems beyond speed and cost. Tamper-resistant transaction records address persistent problems in traditional commodity markets: fraudulent transactions, counterfeit trades, and opaque intermediary chains. Both parties view transparent settlement infrastructure as a catalyst for broader market participation rather than simply an efficiency upgrade for existing participants.
Further information: https://www.asaragroup.com / https://locuschain.com/
——————
