Tokenized uranium marketplace provider Uranium.io has launched the world’s first near real-time price oracle for “yellowcake”, aggregating data from multiple sources to deliver the most accurate spot prices available.
The oracle is designed to bridge a critical gap in the tokenized uranium market, the company said. It brings visibility into a previously-opaque price discovery process that has historically been based on individual, over-the-counter transactions. Due to delays in reporting these transactions, it hasn’t been possible to obtain accurate, real-time market data on uranium prices.
Uranium.io’s spot price oracle changes that, using advanced artificial intelligence algorithms to update its price feed every 60 seconds, based on data from a wide range of assets that are either directly or indirectly associated with the uranium market.
The launch of the oracle is a key milestone for Uranium.io, which debuted its tokenized uranium marketplace on Etherlink, the EVM-compatible Tezos Layer-2 network, in December of last year. Built in partnership with Curzon Uranium, one of the world’s leading uranium trading firms, it’s the world’s first and only decentralized marketplace for retail and institutional investors to buy and sell tokenized U308, which is the main fuel used by clean nuclear energy plants.
Before its launch, only a handful of institutions had access to yellowcake, which is the colloquial term for uranium ore. Due to its sensitive nature, trading of uranium was restricted to approved investors and over-the-counter trades, with minimum lot sizes of 50,000 lbs, worth more than $4 million at current prices.
Through the process of tokenization, Uranium.io has opened the floodgates for the participation of both institutional and retail investors in this once exclusive market. Small amounts of yellowcake are represented by xU3O8 tokens, which live on the Etherlink network, making it possible for anyone with a crypto wallet to buy and sell the asset with significantly less capital. Each xU3O8 token is backed by physical deposits stored at the facilities of the Canadian mining company Cameco.
Unprecedented Pricing Accuracy
To obtain the most accurate market data, Uranium.io’s new price oracle utilizes multiple sources, including the latest spot prices from third-party exchange platforms and OTC trading desks, valuations from uranium and nuclear sector assets, uranium-based commodity funds, the equities of uranium companies and more. By aggregating all of this data and using sophisticated algorithms to weight each input, Uranium.io has come up with the most accurate real-time price feed for U308, updating every 60 seconds to reflect the latest changes in market conditions.
Curzon Uranium executive Crispin Clarke believes the availability of reliable, accurate price information can transform the uranium market. “For years, we’ve had to piece together uranium pricing from fragmented sources and delayed reports,” he said. “This oracle finally gives us the near real-time data we need. It’s a game-changer for how we operate and advise our clients.”
Accurate pricing is needed for tokenized uranium because xU3O8 lacks a formal peg, unlike many other tokenized assets, said Tezos co-founder Arthur Breitman. He believes that more accurate pricing is the key to encouraging further investment in the asset.
“Price discovery for uranium isn’t just happening in the uranium spot markets but across a wide array of economically related assets,” he explained. “The oracle starts a virtuous circle by injecting this information back into the uranium market, which in turn can improve its liquidity and foster better price discovery in the spot market.”
Growing Institutional Interest
Demand for uranium is likely to increase in the coming years, not just because Uranium.io makes it more accessible, but also due to a renaissance in the nuclear power sector, driven by the emergence of cleaner reactors. As the world looks to transition away from carbon-intensive fossil fuels, nuclear energy adoption will increase to complement renewable energy sources.
There’s a lot of data to support this view. A recent survey of more than 600 institutional investors from the U.S., EU, U.K. and APAC regions shows growing interest in uranium, with 97% of respondents indicating they’d invest in the sector if it were easier to do so. At present, very few institutions currently participate due to challenges including operational complexity, regulatory risks and the lack of accessibility.
With its new pricing oracle, Uranium.io addresses many of these problems. It’s built on the same infrastructure as Uranium.io’s marketplace, providing institutional-grade security and reliability, with both live and historical pricing data available through a robust API, facilitating easy integration with trading platforms and analytics tools. The price feed is accessible to financial institutions, trading firms and research organizations from today in support of portfolio management, risk assessment and market research operations.
