This crypto startup supports its token through limestone mining and power plants

When the crypto industry talks about real world assets (RWAs), the conversation usually stops at token wealth, equity, and money market funds.

Kula takes this concept somewhere less polished and potentially more interesting.

Speaking on TheStreet Roundtable, Kula founder Micah Yeackley described a model that works more like a venture capital fund than a financial product wrapper.

The company invests in natural resources and physical assets across emerging markets, takes equity, and backs its token with the value of those assets.

“We create a token backed by real-world assets and invest in natural resources and real-world assets around the world, creating a diversified portfolio of those assets and backing our token with a number of real assets.,” Yeackley said.

Related: WisdomTree exec says tokenization can do to ETFs what ETFs do to mutual funds

The catch is not what most crypto investors would expect. Kula specializes in limestone mining, rare earths, precious metals, hydroelectricity in Nepal, agricultural land, and even an electric bicycle company in Kenya.

The common series are emerging market equities with a discretionary investment lens.

“We act more like a venture capitalist fund where companies come to us looking for investment,” Yeackley said.One of the biggest ways we look is that we are an investment vehicle. We are always looking to identify a community where we can have a positive impact while investing in a natural resource or real-world asset..”

What makes the crypto-native model more than just a VC fund with a token is how Kula uses the blockchain after investing. Each asset the company invests in becomes what they call a “regional DAO.”

A mining partner or downstream company sends geological surveys, price discovery data, and contracts directly to the chain. Investors can retrieve all that information with a QR code or a single click on the Kula website.

“All the information about that mine goes into the blockchain, and it becomes transparent to all our investors,” Yeackley said.

In industries like resource mining, where supply chains are notoriously opaque, that transparent layer is a real commodity. Yeackley admitted that the company does not pursue the most difficult sectors such as diamonds, citing the risks of the small company’s political environment.

“The aim is not to eliminate corruption,” Yeackley said.But we want to move the needle. If we can move the needle a little bit to bring transparency to rare industries, we want to do that..”

Kula is at an early stage, and the model carries all the risks that come with VC-style investment in emerging market natural resources: execution risk, political risk, and liquidity questions surrounding the token itself, but it represents a version of RWA tokenization that goes well beyond placing an obligation on a smart contract.

If the valuation method pans out, it could open up a layer of physical asset exposure that retail investors have never had direct access to before.

The tokenized RWA market, excluding stablecoins, reached nearly $27 billion in on-chain value by the end of Q1 2026, up nearly 30% in one quarter. Tokenized assets in particular reached $7.3 billion in market capitalization, making them the third largest category of tokenized assets behind private credit and US Treasury, according to a report from InvestaX.

This story was originally published by TheStreet on April 24, 2026, where it appeared first in the Innovation category. Add TheStreet as a favorite source by clicking here.