BlockBeats report: On October 22, the U.S. private nuclear fusion startup Marathon Fusion announced this morning that it has successfully achieved high-efficiency alchemy by converting mercury into genuine, stable gold. According to its video presentation, Marathon Fusion employs beam-driven fusion technology to transform mercury-198 into mercury-197, which decays into stable gold-197 after approximately 64 hours, while simultaneously breeding tritium and generating electricity. Laboratory simulations indicate that each GWth can produce over 2 tons of gold per year, potentially doubling the economic value of a power plant.
Market analysis notes that this technology is currently still in the laboratory demonstration phase, with production levels far below commercial scale, thus having virtually no material impact on gold in the short term. However, if the technology matures and achieves commercial deployment in the future, it theoretically has the potential to disrupt the fundamental dynamics of gold.
Public information shows that Marathon Fusion is a private nuclear fusion startup based in San Francisco, USA, founded in 2023, focusing on full-stack nuclear fusion research and aiming to solve fuel cycle challenges in fusion reactors.