thedefiant.io
Lava Network, a blockchain infrastructure protocol, has signed a preliminary agreement to help design a tokenization sandbox for Alba Bay, a planned Caribbean residential development of more than 40,000 units. Lava said it is the protocol's first real-world asset mandate.
BHL says the project will span nearly 40 million square meters, cost multiple billions of dollars and target construction starting in the first quarter of 2027.
The arrangement is a non-binding memorandum of understanding, and BHL Group, the developer, pays Lava nothing upfront, the company said in written answers to questions from The Defiant. No units have been tokenized and no infrastructure has been deployed yet.
LAVA, the protocol's token, trades more than 90% below its 2024 peak and has a market cap of about $9 million, according to CoinGecko. Lava routes traffic for enterprise users including Fireblocks, NEAR, Arbitrum and Starknet.
The release announcing the partnership described a "regulatory sandbox" that would put every home, parcel and shared asset onchain. Lava described a “private, exploratory process between the parties” that’s fully aligned with existing legal and regulatory frameworks.” It named no Dominican regulator and said any future implementation would be coordinated with authorities later.
Lava Support
Under the MoU, Lava's role is to support ecosystem outreach, coordinate applications from crypto-native teams and contribute to the sandbox's design, the company said. BHL retains control over the project's direction and assets. Lava's decentralized RPC and API services would be used only if the teams eventually chosen to build the tokenization framework opt for them. The commercial terms are usage-based, with no fixed fee, equity stake or token grant from BHL, Lava said.
The release said for residents "the deed of ownership will also be a digital asset from day one." Lava said no tokenization structure has been defined, and that any token would be designed to complement rather than replace existing property registries, likely through special-purpose vehicles representing economic interests.
BHL assembled the land over 20 years through more than 100 parcel purchases and holds it outright, Lava said. Financing is mixed: traditional real estate investors are in the capital stack, with a further portion expected from crypto-native funds raised through the sandbox.
Lava said the sandbox's team-selection process is expected to begin shortly. Whether the project proceeds to tokenization will depend on the results.