The platform unlocks assets once out of reach for assets individual and professional investors, giving direct beneficial ownership of physical metals held in secure facilities
London, UK—25th June, 2026—Tezos based application, metals.io, today, in a global first, launched physically backed industrial metals tokens with the listing of two tokens: xCo (cobalt) and xNi (nickel) on the Tezos-based trading platform. In tokenizing cobalt and nickel, metals that are notable for their specific strategic value in industrial and manufacturing applications and use in the energy sector, and for being inaccessible to retail investors, the team behind metals.io is once more responding to market demand and unlocking access to assets that have long been out of reach for individual investors.
Despite their use in a range of applications, such as the manufacturing of rechargeable batteries, high-performance superalloys, and corrosion-resistant materials, a number of factors have prohibited retail investors from accessing cobalt and nickel before now. For cobalt, minimum lot sizes through OTC channels typically start at one tonne and scale up from there. At early 2026 prices a one-tonne minimum implies a USD 56,000 minimum ticket, before any consideration of warehouse storage costs, insurance, and the financing of working capital. The market is not designed for investors looking for sub-tonne fractional ownership, and settlement timelines, payment terms, and warrant transfer mechanics are all geared toward industrial buyers. Nickel is equally inaccessible for retail traders. While nickel does have a deep, transparent, exchange-traded reference market (the LME), the standard LME nickel contract size is 6 tonnes, and financing costs, insurance, and the operational requirements of taking physical delivery from an approved warehouse make this a market designed for industrial users and large traders rather than investors looking for direct exposure.
The tokenized assets, xCo (cobalt) and xNi (nickel), serve to broaden access to these commodities, giving investors direct beneficial ownership of the physical metals held in facilities. By combining a trust structure with Tezos-based smart contracts, metals.io makes it possible for investors to own, hold, and trade these assets without the financing, warehousing, and minimum lot-size frictions that have kept the cobalt and nickel markets largely closed to anyone smaller than an industrial buyer or a commodity trading house.
“The rapid growth of AI, an explosion of manufacturing capacity in emerging markets, and a host of other technological demands and developments have created demand for the metals and minerals that power industries as diverse as the automotive sector to the aerospace industry. However, systemic barriers have long prohibited mainstream access to these assets and, when it comes to how metals and commodities are traded today not much has changed in the transfer of metals since the launch of the London Metals Exchange, almost 150 years ago. Now, though, 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”, said Ben Elvidge, Lead for metals.io, and Head of Alternative Assets at Trilitech.
Cobalt and nickel each have specific properties that make them especially valuable for energy, industrial and manufacturing applications. Cobalt is one of the defining critical minerals of the energy transition. It is essential to nickel manganese cobalt (NCM) and nickel cobalt aluminium (NCA) battery cathodes used in the majority of European and North American electric vehicles, as well as in consumer electronics, aerospace alloys, and a range of industrial catalysts. Nickel is one of the most strategically important industrial metals in the world. It is the backbone of stainless steel, which still accounts for around two-thirds of global nickel demand, and it has become a critical input into high-energy-density battery cathodes used in premium electric vehicles, aerospace, and grid-scale storage.
The launch of tokenized cobalt and nickel on metals.io further expands the platform’s offerings, opening access to new investors who would not previously have had the opportunity to own and trade them. In addition to the new assets launching today, visitors to the site can also access xU3O8 tokenized uranium; VNX Gold (VNXAU), digital proof of ownership of allocated gold which is physically held in a vault in Liechtenstein; and the RARE token from Noemon Tech, which provides transparent exposure to a diversified basket of five strategic metals selected for their critical industrial and technological value. For more information about all of these assets and tokenized commodities, visit: https://metals.io/
