Aurum Foundation names Nick Patel as its RWA Relationships Advisor as tokenized real-world assets gain momentum.

Aurum Foundation has appointed Nick Patel as its RWA Relationships Advisor to spearhead its Real-World Asset strategy. This comes at a time when interest in tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) has been steadily increasing.

According to data from DeFiLlama, the value of RWA on public blockchains reached $23.6 billion in 2026, a 66% increase from $14.1 billion at the start of the year.

​Nick has built his career working at the intersection of commodities, finance, and, more recently, digital asset infrastructure. He has spent the past several years in gold trading and has built businesses tied to supply, mining, and tokenized gold initiatives. He brings more than a decade of experience in financial markets, working in stockbroking, equity sales, commodity trading, and cross-border investment.

He has been appointed to expand Aurum’s RWA strategy and strengthen relationships across global commodity markets. The foundation has positioned itself around crypto products, AI-driven financial infrastructure, and new ways to connect decentralised finance with tangible assets such as gold and other commodities.

According to Aurum CEO Bryan Benson, Nick’s appointment is part of the foundation’s broader effort to combine tangible value with the accessibility and yield potential of decentralized systems, as it focuses on widening its investment approach to include fractional exposure to metals, emeralds, and other liquid real-world assets, not just gold.

With more than two decades of experience in financial markets, Nick has worked in different departments, including stockbroking, equity sales, commodity trading, and cross-border investment.

​He is also the founder of Bank of Bullion in Dubai, a business focused on the precious metals supply chain, including procurement, refining, storage, and trading. He also leads Clinq DMCC and Clinq.Gold, a venture centred on digitising gold ownership through blockchain infrastructure and fractional access.

​These businesses center on connecting physical gold production and trading with digital financial rails. The ventures have given Nick the expertise needed to navigate a period when blockchain firms are increasingly exploring tokenised commodities, funds, and other off-chain value beyond traditional crypto assets.

Aurum’s long-term goal is to build DeFi earning opportunities around assets that are typically seen as stable stores of value. Gold sits naturally within that narrative. It is familiar, globally recognized, and widely used as a hedge in traditional markets.

Patel said he is looking forward to helping connect traditional assets with new financial opportunities and to building relationships across the sector.