By EX.IO Group and real-world asset investment platform Oria have formed a strategic partnership to explore consumer-finance opportunities in emerging markets, with a focus on tokenizing credit assets and developing regulated channels for their issuance and distribution.
The partnership will initially focus on credit assets sourced by Oria in Latin America, with EX.IO Group supporting the issuance, offering, distribution and custody of related real-world asset (RWA) tokens, the companies said in an announcement.
RWA tokenization refers to representing rights to real-world financial or physical assets on blockchain-based infrastructure. The companies said the proposed structure is intended to give eligible investors outside emerging markets access to selected credit opportunities through regulated channels.
The partnership comes as emerging-market borrowers face substantial financing needs. The International Finance Corporation estimates that the financing gap for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in emerging market and developing economies was $5.7 trillion in 2019.
Oria said its consumer-finance business has about a decade of operating experience covering credit origination, pricing and risk management.
The company said it has originated and serviced more than $2 billion in emerging-market consumer credit, while assets under management on its platform reached nearly $3 million within one month of launch.
Under the proposed arrangement, Oria will provide credit assets sourced in Latin America as the underlying assets for potential tokenized products. EX.IO Group will provide infrastructure covering issuance and other parts of the RWA lifecycle, while its licensed EX.IO platform will handle offering and custody, according to the announcement.
Oria will also seek to distribute selected tokenized products available on the EX.IO platform to its eligible investor network, the companies said.
The two companies have already conducted an initial transaction intended to test the proposed structure. Oria completed institutional onboarding on the EX.IO platform and subscribed to a tokenized product using U.S. dollar stablecoins, according to the announcement.
The transaction tested a sequence involving stablecoin funding, conversion through a licensed platform and subscription to a tokenized product.
The companies said the transaction would serve as a basis for potentially expanding cooperation across RWA issuance, offering, distribution and custody.
Danny Xu, chief executive of Oria, said the partnership could provide a compliance-focused route for its Latin American credit fund from issuance through custody.
“This is a two-way channel for assets and capital, not a one-off, single-point collaboration,” Xu said in the announcement.
Toya Zhang, deputy chief executive officer of EX.IO Group, said the partnership was intended to connect emerging-market assets with Hong Kong’s digital-asset infrastructure.
Under the proposed structure, EX.IO Group would be responsible for issuance, while the licensed EX.IO platform would handle offering and custody. Oria would extend distribution of selected products to its eligible investors, Zhang said.
EX.IO Group said its Hong Kong-licensed EX.IO platform had more than 30 tokenized products available.
It also reported that sales of tokenized products increased 200% year-on-year in September 2026, while related trading volume increased 800% year-on-year. Those figures were provided by the company and were not independently verified.
The group operates EXIO Limited, which the announcement describes as a virtual asset trading platform licensed and regulated by Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission.
EX.IO Group also operates EX.IO FZCO in Dubai, where it said it is applying for a virtual asset service provider licence.
For Oria, the partnership adds another link between its emerging-market credit activities and digital-asset infrastructure. Oria describes itself as an RWA investment platform offering U.S.-dollar-denominated products backed by real-world assets to eligible users.
The broader financing challenge is significant. IFC says MSMEs account for more than 90% of firms globally and around 70% of employment and 50% of GDP on average, while many businesses in emerging markets continue to face inadequate access to finance.
Tokenization is increasingly being explored as a mechanism for connecting traditional financial assets with digital infrastructure.
However, access to tokenized products remains dependent on jurisdiction, investor eligibility, licensing requirements, custody arrangements and applicable securities regulations.
The EX.IO Group and Oria partnership is expected to move beyond the initial transaction as the companies assess additional emerging-market credit assets and potential tokenized products.
The companies said they intend to expand the cooperation in both scale and scope, covering more of the RWA value chain while maintaining regulated distribution and custody arrangements.
