Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Capital Brings $75M Private Markets Fund Onchain; Coinbase Takes Balance Sheet Exposure

The sovereign wealth-backed asset manager used UAE firm KAIO to launch a tokenized private markets strategy on Base, Solana, and Sui — with Coinbase investing from its own corporate treasury.

Mubadala Capital, the asset management arm of Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund overseeing approximately $430 billion in assets, has launched a tokenized version of one of its private markets strategies for qualified investors. The fund uses infrastructure from KAIO, a UAE-based tokenization specialist, and is available across Coinbase's Base network, Solana, and Sui. The fund has already attracted approximately $75 million in onchain assets, according to a July 23, 2026 report by CoinDesk.

Coinbase is taking exposure to the fund on its own corporate balance sheet — an early example of a publicly traded crypto company investing directly in a tokenized private markets product. The companies did not disclose the size of the investment.

"This strategy was built on differentiated access — to deal flow, to co-investment, to a global network that most investors cannot reach on their own," said Max Franzetti, head of Mubadala Capital Solutions, in a statement. "Bringing it onchain extends that access to a new class of qualified investors without compromising the institutional discipline that defines how we invest."

KAIO: The Infrastructure Layer

KAIO provides the infrastructure that issues and administers Mubadala Capital's tokenized fund. According to CoinDesk, KAIO said Mubadala joins Hamilton Lane, Brevan Howard, and Laser Digital as firms using its platform to distribute investment products onchain. KAIO currently has $144 million in tokenized funds on its platform.

Brett Tejpaul, head of Coinbase Institutional, described Coinbase's balance sheet investment as a reflection of growing interest in regulated tokenized assets as treasury holdings. "As regulated assets become programmable, they can become part of a broader onchain economy that is more transparent, composable and accessible to qualified investors in eligible jurisdictions," he said in a statement.

A Growing Institutional Wave

Mubadala's move adds to a growing list of major investment firms putting funds on blockchain rails. According to the CoinDesk report, BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Apollo, Fidelity, Janus Henderson, and most recently Invesco have all launched or expanded tokenized fund offerings, primarily focused on U.S. Treasuries, money market funds, and private credit.

Citi recently projected tokenized securities growing to roughly $5.5 trillion by 2030. BCG and Ripple have estimated tokenized assets across all asset classes reaching $18.9 trillion by 2033. The UAE's position as an active jurisdiction for digital assets — with Abu Dhabi and Dubai rolling out crypto frameworks while sovereign-backed investors and financial firms increasingly experiment with tokenized funds — makes Mubadala's launch consistent with a deliberate national strategy.