Blockchain enables firms to offer physical uranium for sale to small investors
On Tuesday, a blockchain platform and an uranium company launched a market to allow small investors buy physical uranium. They hope to increase spot liquidity for the niche commodity.
Uranium prices have risen in recent years due to a rise in investor interest and the reduction of miner output. This is because utilities are looking for new sources of this mineral, which fuels nuclear energy.
Nuclear power plants are also gaining in popularity due to the surge in demand for electricity from data centres that use artificial intelligence (AI).
Investors could have gotten exposure to uranium by purchasing shares of mining companies or funds with uranium inventories.
They will now be able buy small quantities of physical uranium, which will be tokenised and stored on a blockchain. The tokens will represent a share in the underlying asset.
Nick Clarke is the founder of Curzon Uranium, a private trading company.
The minimum purchase of uranium dioxide or yellowcake, which costs over $4 million, is 50,000 pounds.
The new trading site (www.uranium.io), which uses the open-source Tezos blockchain platform, is sourced from Curzon.
The physical uranium is stored in the facilities of Canadian producer Cameco.
Sprott and Yellowcake are two funds that allow small investors to get exposure to uranium. However, these shares can fluctuate from the price of uranium because they trade on the stock exchange.
Investors have taken notice of the metal after its spot price doubled in 10 months, reaching a high of $106 per pound by January. This was due to top producers Kazatomprom & Cameco cutting production forecasts. Since then, prices have dropped to $77.
The use of nuclear energy to reduce carbon emissions has increased. This year, several agreements have been made to supply power to AI data centres from nuclear plants, including those signed by Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. Reporting by Eric Onstad, Editing by Mark Potter
(source: Reuters)
