Blockchain Revolution in Latin America: $75M Oil and Gas Deal Gets Tokenized

In a groundbreaking move, a fully tokenized capital stack was used to acquire a working oil and gas facility in Latin America for $75 million. The transaction, orchestrated by Feniix Energy, a company focused on buying and operating energy assets in the region, marks the first time a tokenized capital stack has been utilized to acquire operational real estate tied to commodity production. The purchase was completed using stablecoins and tokenized debt and equity through Global Settlement's platform, a real-world asset specialist. The transaction was finalized last week, with further details kept confidential due to regulatory requirements. Institutions are increasingly looking at tokenization as the next frontier in capital markets, using blockchain technology to move real-world assets (RWA) such as bonds, funds, and other securities. This promises simpler cross-border transactions, faster settlements, and new liquidity channels. The tokenized RWA market is expected to grow to trillions of dollars over the next few years, with projections ranging from $2 trillion by McKinsey to $18 billion by BCG and Ripple. "This deal fundamentally transforms the financial landscape of energy infrastructure," said Alejandro Uribe, a director at Feniix. "By integrating blockchain technology, we achieve unprecedented efficiency, security, and transparency." Global Settlement's GSX Protocol coordinated stablecoin flows between parties across Latin America, sourced vendors, and supported the technical infrastructure for the deal. The process showcased that tokenization and stablecoins could reduce cross-border settlement across Latin American countries to minutes from what is typically several days through the traditional banking system. Tokenization can also unlock more ways to raise funds for commodity-related investment across emerging markets while bypassing traditional capital markets. "I believe commodity tokenization is a key growth opportunity for emerging markets that don't have the existing access to traditional financial services," said Kyle Sonlin, founder of Global Settlement. "Debt markets and even equity capital are hard to come by for refineries, mines, and other natural resource products, despite the fact that a huge portion of GDP comes from these exports." For Global Settlement, which operates a layer-1 network focusing on real-world asset transactions across multiple blockchains, the deal was an opportunity to test its capabilities and replicate in future deals. "A key goal in building [the protocol] was to assist in quantifying the benefits of tokenization to issuers and family offices," said Sonlin. "We are looking to expand and do more of these M&A [merger and acquisition] transactions."