• The pilot targets eight water treatment sites in Jakarta, which the firms say serve 36,000+ residents and deliver about 2,300 liters per second of clean water.
  • The facilities are projected to generate over $15 million in revenue by late 2026.
  • The partners expects tokenization could help raise up to $35 million to expand treatment capacity and extend piping networks.
  • A phased 12-month roadmap targets scaling the model to $200 million across Southeast Asia.

Global Settlement Network and Globalasia Infrastructure Fund are pitching a new use case for the tokenization boom: financing water treatment plants.

The two firms said they will launch a $30 million pilot in Indonesia that tokenizes cash flows from government-contracted, operating water assets in Jakarta, using a rupiah-denominated stablecoin for near-instant settlement. The project is positioned as the first step in a plan to scale to $200 million of tokenized water infrastructure financing across Southeast Asia over the next 12 months, according to the companies.

The announcement lands as policymakers and investors grapple with a widening gap in basic water and sanitation spending. The Asian Development Bank estimates Asia and the Pacific face an investment gap of about $4 trillion in water infrastructure by 2040, underscoring the scale of capital required for networks that are typically funded through public budgets, concessional lenders and long-dated project finance.

Tokenized cash flows, stablecoin settlement

The Jakarta pilot is structured around revenue streams from existing water treatment facilities under long-term government offtake arrangements, the companies said. GSX and GIF plan to tokenize claims tied to those contracted cash flows, allowing investors to gain exposure to infrastructure-style returns while using blockchain rails for issuance, reporting and settlement.

A key feature is settlement: the partners said they will use a rupiah-denominated stablecoin to enable T+0 clearing—effectively moving value and finalizing transfers in near real time—aimed at reducing the operational friction that can slow cross-border participation in infrastructure deals.

GSX, which markets itself as a regulated-infrastructure-focused blockchain network, has previously described its stack as built for tokenization and settlement with “built-in compliance” and interoperability features such as ISO 20022-style messaging support.

Why Indonesia, why water

The companies framed the project as a response to a structural mismatch: essential services require long-term capital, but many investors—particularly those outside a project’s home market—face hurdles ranging from settlement timelines and FX handling to reporting and transparency standards.

Indonesia also sits at the center of a broader push to modernize payments and financial market plumbing. The central bank has been developing its digital rupiah initiative and has discussed pilots focused on interoperability and risk controls, a backdrop that could shape how tokenized settlement models evolve locally.

GSX and GIF said the first phase targets eight water treatment sites in Jakarta, serving more than 36,000 residents, with facilities delivering over 2,300 liters per second of clean water and projected to generate more than $15 million in revenue by late 2026. They said tokenization would be used to raise up to $35 million to expand capacity and extend piping networks.

Compliance-by-design pitch to institutions

To broaden the pool of potential buyers beyond crypto-native capital, the firms are emphasizing controls that map to traditional finance expectations. They said the framework is designed to align with FATF standards and local KYC/AML requirements, and to support ISO 20022-style messaging so regulated institutions can integrate tokenized assets into familiar operational workflows.

That compliance positioning reflects a wider trend in real-world asset tokenization, where issuers have shifted from “on-chain as a novelty” to systems designed to satisfy custodians, regulated intermediaries and institutional mandates.

GSX’s President Kyle Sonlin said the partnership is aimed at “transforming essential infrastructure finance,” while GIF’s representative, Witjaksono, said the model could be expanded to other Indonesian infrastructure and natural-asset projects, according to the statement. GIF describes itself as an Indonesia-based infrastructure development platform focused on public-private partnership opportunities.

A growing RWA playbook, with real constraints

Tokenization has gained traction in categories such as private credit and U.S. Treasuries, but infrastructure remains a harder test: assets are illiquid, highly regulated, and operational performance matters. Even proponents acknowledge that scaling beyond pilots requires more than smart contracts—particularly reliable legal enforceability of cash-flow claims, investor protections, and clear treatment under securities and settlement rules.

GSX has pointed to prior tokenization deals in other sectors; in 2025, Global Settlement was cited for its role in a $75 million tokenized oil-and-gas acquisition that used tokenized debt and equity, a transaction it characterized as a milestone for “fully tokenized” capital stacks.

For the Indonesia water program, the companies said the next three months will focus on pilot issuances and rupiah-stablecoin testing in “controlled corridors,” followed by security reviews and expansion to additional FX corridors, with a joint steering committee overseeing technical implementation and capital deployment.

If it works, the model could offer a template for routing institutional money into essential infrastructure—an area where the need is measured in trillions, not millions—while using stablecoin-style settlement to cut transaction friction. Whether it becomes repeatable at scale will depend on how regulators, banks and custodians respond once the pilot moves from architecture diagrams to live flows.

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