Oil-backed digital asset unveiled
22 January 2026 Bahrain
Image: Cliff/stock.adobe.com
OIL1 — an oil-backed digital asset — has been launched, which will be issued by the Gulf Energy Exchange (GEX) and subject to regulatory approval by the Central Bank of the Kingdom of Bahrain.
It will be collateralised by verified reserves of Gulf crude oil and pegged to both the US dollar and the price of Gulf crude oil.
The digital asset will bridge traditional energy commodity assets with blockchain infrastructure.
The dual peg structure provides investors with a transparent hedge against both currency volatility and commodity price fluctuations, and opens access to energy-backed financial instruments and accelerated global oil trading.
It will be backed by a diversified reserve basket — including USDC and USD1 — to support liquidity, transparency, and resilience.
OIL1 will be powered by Arc, an open Layer-1 blockchain from Circle, and secured by Microsoft's enterprise-grade cloud architecture with managed security services provided by ITC Secure, a Microsoft Gold cybersecurity partner.
Based in Bahrain, GEX will connect Gulf energy value to global capital 24/7 and will be home for energy real-world assets in digital markets, bringing institutional-grade transparency to tokenised energy products.
Andre Pienaar, CEO of C5 Capital, comments: “By bridging traditional energy assets with blockchain-based finance, we are creating a secure, transparent, and globally trusted currency for the energy age as an instrument of energy security.”
Kash Razzaghi, chief business officer at Circle, notes: “OIL1 demonstrates how digital dollars and enterprise-grade blockchain infrastructure can responsibly expand access to real-world assets at global scale.”
It will be collateralised by verified reserves of Gulf crude oil and pegged to both the US dollar and the price of Gulf crude oil.
The digital asset will bridge traditional energy commodity assets with blockchain infrastructure.
The dual peg structure provides investors with a transparent hedge against both currency volatility and commodity price fluctuations, and opens access to energy-backed financial instruments and accelerated global oil trading.
It will be backed by a diversified reserve basket — including USDC and USD1 — to support liquidity, transparency, and resilience.
OIL1 will be powered by Arc, an open Layer-1 blockchain from Circle, and secured by Microsoft's enterprise-grade cloud architecture with managed security services provided by ITC Secure, a Microsoft Gold cybersecurity partner.
Based in Bahrain, GEX will connect Gulf energy value to global capital 24/7 and will be home for energy real-world assets in digital markets, bringing institutional-grade transparency to tokenised energy products.
Andre Pienaar, CEO of C5 Capital, comments: “By bridging traditional energy assets with blockchain-based finance, we are creating a secure, transparent, and globally trusted currency for the energy age as an instrument of energy security.”
Kash Razzaghi, chief business officer at Circle, notes: “OIL1 demonstrates how digital dollars and enterprise-grade blockchain infrastructure can responsibly expand access to real-world assets at global scale.”
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