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Tokenized commodities

xU3O8 uranium token (uranium.io)

Not approved The evidence weighs against it
Verdict
Not approved
The evidence weighs against it
Who can freeze it
Not graded
Withdrawals
A holder can get value back in two ways, and an advisory client can use only one.
Reviewed
2026-09-26 · next 2027-09-27
Researched memo

Summary

Ketju does not approve xU3O8: an advisory client cannot redeem the token for uranium, and one private key can mint, pause, upgrade and wipe any balance. The only reserve evidence is a monthly balance statement. xU3O8 represents a share of physical uranium oxide concentrate (U3O8, “yellowcake”). Trilitech Design Limited, a British Virgin Islands company in the Tezos ecosystem, offers it. Archax Ltd, an FCA-regulated London firm, holds the uranium as bare trustee in a storage account at Cameco’s Canadian conversion facility and keeps the register. Archax keeps that register in the token contract on Etherlink, so a balance is a beneficial co-ownership share in the trust pool. On 31 July 2026 Cameco’s statement showed 38,464.626 kgU in the Archax account against 1,600,000 tokens. That is about one troy ounce of U3O8 per token, worth about $9 million in all. The holder owns property on trust, which is a stronger claim than most tokens of this kind give. Only a party regulated by a national nuclear regulator, with its own account at a licensed facility, can redeem. An advisory client can only sell, and nobody, the issuer included, stands ready to buy at a set price. On 2026-09-23 the key that holds every admin role had 159 addresses on the blacklist. Archax decides “in its absolute discretion” whether a buyer becomes a beneficiary.

Research

How it works

The white paper says the structure “uses English trust law to underpin ownership and transfer.” It describes a ledger in two layers: one records the ounces Archax holds on trust, and the other records each wallet’s fraction of that pool. The MiCAR white paper calls Archax a “bare trustee on behalf of token holders” holding the uranium “in a storage account with Cameco Corporation.” The help center says: “Each xU3O8 represents a unit of ownership of U3O8 held by Archax as a custodian for investors.” The holder owns a share of a pool and no identified drums. A converter account at Cameco is a book-entry balance in kilograms of uranium. The July 2026 statement is a “Contract Balance Statement” for Archax with a beginning and ending balance of 38,464.626 kgU and no transactions. The token count matches the metal: 1,600,000 troy ounces of U3O8 is 45,359 kg of oxide, and at 84.8% uranium by weight that is 38,465 kgU.

Two terms weaken the claim. The MiCAR paper says a buyer becomes a beneficiary only once Archax “has decided, in its absolute discretion,” that the buyer is able to be one. And the issuer takes fees from the pool: up to 1.1% a year for storage and administration. It collects them by minting new tokens to a treasury wallet, so each token stands for less uranium. Supply was still exactly 1,600,000 on 2026-09-23, so the issuer had not yet taken a fee this way.

Who controls it

The token is an ERC-1967 proxy at 0x79052Ab3…B1fD on Etherlink, the Tezos layer-2 EVM chain. It points at an ERC20PoolToken implementation whose source is verified on the Etherlink explorer. The implementation defines roles for admin, minting, pausing, upgrading, wiping, KYC approval, and blacklisting. `wipe(address, amount)` burns tokens from any address and needs only the wiper role. Two switches govern transfers. When the blacklist is on, a listed address cannot send or receive; when the KYC switch is on, only approved addresses can. On 2026-09-23 the blacklist was on and the KYC switch was off. Role events show one externally owned address, 0x04009bc7…c807, holding the admin, minter, pauser, wiper, and upgrader roles, after an earlier holder handed them over. The blacklist held 159 addresses (288 additions, 129 removals). No multisig and no timelock stand in front of any of these powers.

The MiCAR paper says Archax, as registrar, “retains administrative keys to the smart contract allowing it to rectify errors or amend entries.” The site terms describe how wallets reach the blacklist. Provenance Ltd screens each wallet on first use and continuously after. It freezes a “Redlight” wallet until the holder passes enhanced due diligence, and the wallet stays frozen if the holder fails. We confirmed these powers on chain: allowlist (the KYC switch), freeze, pause, clawback (`wipe`), and upgrade.

Withdrawals

A holder can get value back in two ways, and an advisory client can use only one. A regulated holder with an account at a licensed conversion or storage facility can ask for a book-entry transfer of its uranium to that account. The help center says delivery to anyone else “is not feasible,” and uranium.io publishes no minimum, fee, or timetable. Everyone else sells, either on the uranium.io interface against USDC on Etherlink or on a centralized exchange. The MiCAR paper names Kraken, and Anchorage Digital began institutional custody on 2026-09-16. The white paper says “There is no formal peg to the spot price of uranium.” The issuer expects market makers to keep the token near the OTC spot market, but nothing obliges them to. Brokers quote the spot uranium market, and trading is thin. The white paper says physical lots normally trade in 100,000 lb blocks among qualified buyers. The token lets a small holder buy in, but no party must buy the uranium back from that holder.

Eligibility

The help center says there are “no geographical access limits other than based on AML/CFT and/or sanctions screening,” and the MiCAR paper targets retail and professional holders alike. There is no minimum purchase. uranium.io does not list excluded countries or US states. The white paper says only wallets of approved venues or wallets whitelisted in the app may acquire the token, but with the KYC switch off the contract enforces no such list. uranium.io says it is becoming Metals.io, and it last updated its terms on 5 September 2025.

Comparison

xU3O8 gives a cleaner claim than a uranium miner and a more direct one than a closed-end physical uranium fund, but it protects the holder less than either. A physical uranium trust listed on an exchange publishes audited financial statements and holds its uranium at the same converters, and a holder can sell it through any brokerage account. The token relies on a monthly one-page statement, an issuer in the BVI, and a single key that can erase any balance. Ketju will review the token again if control of the Etherlink contract moves to a multisig with a timelock, or if a firm publishes an independent attestation of the Cameco account. Ketju will also review it if uranium.io opens redemption to unregulated holders, or if Archax publishes the deed of trust and it removes the trustee’s discretion over who is a beneficiary.

Sources

Each claim above comes from one of these sources. Where Ketju could not verify a number, the memo states that.

The asset and the chain

This memo covers the protocol. A position also holds an asset and settles on a chain. Whichever of the three holds the most power over the position decides who can freeze it. These tables describe control and do not judge quality.

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