London-based metals.io has added tokenized cobalt and nickel to its Tezos-based trading platform, opening access to commodities that have traditionally been available only to industrial buyers and large trading houses.
The company said Thursday it purchased and tokenized 7 tonnes of the metals, launching xCo and xNi tokens that provide investors with ownership of physical metal held in secure storage facilities.
The platform uses a trust structure combined with blockchain-based smart contracts to allow investors to buy, hold and trade the assets without the warehousing, financing and minimum lot-size requirements typically associated with physical commodity markets.
“The rapid growth of AI, an explosion of manufacturing capacity in emerging markets and a host of other technological developments have created demand for the metals and minerals that power industries from automotive manufacturing to aerospace,” Ben Elvidge, lead for metals.io and head of alternative assets at Trilitech, said in a statement.
“With the launch of metals.io and the dawn of tokenization, we’re able to streamline access to these essential commodities, making them available to a new profile of buyer and introducing new routes to market for suppliers.”
Market transformation
The launch highlights how tokenization is beginning to reshape commodity markets that have changed little since the London Metal Exchange was founded nearly 150 years ago. By lowering barriers to entry, digital ownership structures could broaden investor participation in strategic metals that play critical roles in energy security, advanced manufacturing and emerging technologies, the company said.
Cobalt remains a key component in battery chemistries used in electric vehicles, consumer electronics and aerospace applications. Nickel is essential to stainless steel production and increasingly important in high-energy-density batteries. Palladium, to be added in a few weeks, is primarily used in automotive catalytic converters and other industrial applications.
The additions expand metals.io’s existing offerings, which include tokenized uranium through xU3O8, VNX Gold-backed digital gold ownership products and Noemon Tech’s RARE token, which tracks a basket of strategic metals selected for their industrial and technological importance.
