Nornickel Starts Trial of Tokenized Metal Trading Platform

Russian smelter Nornickel has begun trialing it metal trading platform developed using blockchain technology.

The miner started testing its platform for tokenized metal trading in partnership with Trafigura Group, which trades in physical commodities, Traxys SA, a logistics firm, and Umicore SA, materials technology and recycling group.

In particular, the platform has been structured to facilitate customers to buy metals in the form of digital tokens and then exchange them for physical supplies.

Regarding the launch of trading platform, Nornickel CEO Vladimir Potanin stated that the company is “imply packing existing business links into a new and modern form.” Nornickel supposedly aims to increase their share in tokens based trading of metals to 20% in the forthcoming years.

The launch of blockchain based platform facilitating tokenized metal trading has gone as per schedule. Andrey Bugrov, Vice-president of Nornickel, earlier stated that the company anticipated introducing the product to the market by the end of this year, and also starting token trading.

Big factories constructed during the Soviet era, mainly in cold weather zones are attracting crypo enthusiasts. Of late, BitRiver, the largest data center in the former USSR, was opened a year back in the Siberian city of Bratsk. Currently, almost all of its customers utilize the facility to mine Bitcoin (BTC).

The data center facilitates crypto miners to benefit from low cost power supply to the premise, which was earlier used to be aluminum smelting facility. In 2018, Dmitry Yalo, Deputy Governor of the Leningrad Region, revealed about the creation of a new mining facility in the place where a fertilizer laboratory of the Soviet era was operating.