Dubai-based Islamic fintech Wafr has announced the launch of WafrChain, a private permissioned blockchain platform designed to bring Shariah-compliant sukuk issuance, distribution, settlement and profit payments onto a single institutional infrastructure. The company simultaneously disclosed a pre-seed funding round backed by Coen Jonker, co-founder of Tyme Group, and Neal Cross, former Chief Innovation Officer of DBS Bank. WafrChain addresses a global sukuk market in which outstanding issuance stood at US$1.14 trillion in 2025, with annual issuance growing 14.5% to US$291.4 billion, according to the ICD–LSEG Islamic Finance Development Report 2026. Investors in the Islamic fintech space may be watching how the platform scales its institutional network following launch.

Key Points

  • Wafr (FNEWS) — Dubai-based Islamic financial technology company targeting global Shariah-compliant markets
  • Wafr has launched WafrChain, its first product, with sukuk tokenisation live on the platform following a pre-seed funding round
  • Global Islamic finance assets reached US$6.5 trillion in 2025, up 9% year on year; sukuk outstanding totalled US$1.14 trillion
  • Investors should watch Wafr's progress on regulatory approvals and expansion of its institutional distributor network

WafrChain Puts Sukuk Issuance, Settlement and Shariah Approvals Onto a Single Permissioned Blockchain

WafrChain is a private, permissioned blockchain built to consolidate the multiple parties involved in a sukuk lifecycle — typically eight separate institutions — onto one shared record. Instrument terms including unit price, profit schedule and maturity are recorded on-chain alongside Shariah board approvals before distribution begins. The platform supports both fiat settlement via local real-time gross settlement systems and SWIFT, and stablecoin settlement, while institutions can connect through a single API. Smart contracts route profit payments automatically, and transactions reach finality in 300 milliseconds, with each participant seeing only its own activity to preserve confidentiality.

Pre-Seed Round Draws Individual Investments from Tyme Group Co-Founder and Former DBS Chief Innovation Officer

The pre-seed round includes individual investments from Coen Jonker, co-founder of Tyme Group and former Commonwealth Bank of Australia Group Executive, and Neal Cross, co-founder of PictureWealth and former Chief Innovation Officer of DBS Bank. The financial terms of the round were not disclosed in the announcement. Wafr's co-founding team is led by Chief Executive Officer Mahmoud Bouchelif, a former Islamic banker who previously built LeanTech SG to seven-figure revenue without external funding, and Chief Product Officer Anthony Murphy, whose background includes digital banking product launches at AMP, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Macquarie Bank.

A US$1.14 Trillion Sukuk Market Underpins Wafr's Institutional Addressable Opportunity

According to the ICD–LSEG Islamic Finance Development Report 2026, global Islamic finance assets reached US$6.5 trillion in 2025, rising 9% year on year, while sukuk outstanding stood at US$1.14 trillion and annual issuance grew 14.5% to US$291.4 billion. Wafr's announcement states that a single sukuk issuance can take many months or longer to reach market due to reconciliation across multiple parties. WafrChain's shared ledger model is designed to reduce that complexity, though the platform will need to demonstrate adoption among institutional issuers and distributors to convert market scale into commercial traction.

Wafr's Broader Roadmap Spans Fund Tokenisation, Consumer Accounts and Cross-Border Remittances

Beyond sukuk, Wafr's disclosed institutional roadmap includes fund tokenisation, tokenised deposits, trade finance and business-to-business settlement. Consumer services planned include global accounts, cross-border remittances and cards, with agentic AI and stablecoin-enabled settlement included in its wider development strategy. The company states that consumer services will be introduced in line with applicable regulatory processes and approvals, working with licensed partners where required. Execution risk remains a material consideration given the breadth of the roadmap and the regulatory complexity of operating across multiple jurisdictions in Islamic finance.