- Commodity companies are tokenizing metals.
- In particular, gold, copper, and uranium are being moved onto the blockchain.
- Some companies are already issuing tokens backed by metals that have not yet been mined.
In 2026, mining and technology companies are increasingly launching tokens pegged to gold, copper, uranium, nickel, and cobalt, seeking to attract crypto investors to the commodities market, FT writes. Such projects are intended to simplify retail investors’ access to physical metals, give crypto capital a way to diversify via RWA, and, at the same time, create a new financing mechanism for mining projects.
At the same time, experts warn that the tokenized metals market remains at an early stage, and its development comes with a number of risks.
Interest in metal tokenization has emerged amid the broader adoption of blockchain infrastructure in traditional finance. After tokenization began expanding to stocks and bonds, companies are trying to bring physical assets onto the blockchain as well. This trend aligns with the forecast of Consensys CEO Joseph Lubin, who said that the global economy is gradually moving toward full asset tokenization.
At the same time, the potential of this market still differs significantly from the scale of traditional instruments. According to the World Gold Council, the total value of gold ETFs last month was about $530 billion, while the two largest gold-backed tokens — Tether Gold and Pax Gold — had market capitalizations of about $2.7 billion and $1.9 billion, respectively.
From Gold to Uranium
Tokenization advocates believe blockchain can make access to commodity assets easier. For example, the Metals.io platform has already issued tokens linked to uranium, nickel, and cobalt, which, under certain conditions, can be redeemed for physical metal. According to Ben Elvidge, head of alternative assets at Trilitech, these instruments provide “direct commodity exposure without the cost and complexity of futures.”
Demand, he says, is coming from both institutional investors and “crypto-native capital that wants diversification through real-world assets with growth potential.” At the same time, the scale remains small for now: Metals.io’s cumulative trading volume since December 2024 totals about $24 million, and the number of token holders is about 9,000.
Some companies are trying to tokenize even metals that have not yet been mined. Nasdaq-listed Datavault AI plans to issue tokens backed by copper and antimony, tied directly to future extraction. The company’s CEO, Nathaniel Bradley, compared this model to a futures contract.
He emphasized that the tokens will allow investors to trade the assets or hold them until the mined metal can be delivered physically.
Tokenization Is Growing, but Risks Remain
The development of tokenized metals is unfolding against the broader growth of the RWA segment. According to a joint report by CoinShares and Token Terminal, the total market capitalization of tokenized real-world assets has already surpassed $43 billion. The authors noted that the market is moving from simply issuing tokenized assets to their practical use as collateral, in trading, and in derivatives.
However, tokenizing physical metals comes with additional complexities. Investors need to consider the origin, quality, and characteristics of the raw materials, and industrial metals are not always interchangeable. The global head of market structure and innovation at the World Gold Council, Mike Oswin, raised the question:
“Are retail investors expected to understand the process of funding part of the gold value chain?”
Another issue remains market fragmentation. Different tokens trade on different platforms, and some are available only through the issuers’ own apps.
“The area where we need more development is interoperability,” said Caitlin Barnett, Chainalysis Director of Regulation and Compliance.
At the same time, she added:
“I think everything eventually comes on to the blockchain, because of the way you can record things.”
As a reminder, experts at New York Life Investment Management noted that tokenization’s main potential lies in creating personalized investment portfolios at industrial scale.
Сообщение Companies Started Tokenizing Metals — Even Ones that Haven’t Been Mined Yet появились сначала на INCRYPTED.