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The power-hungry AI revolution is already spiking global demand for energy. That's putting a bigger focus on nuclear energy, and with it — according to one venture capital company — the need for better ways to trade the fuel that makes fission possible.

For crypto-focused VC firm Portal Ventures, the answer was downright radioactive. The firm is leading a $1.7 million round in Uranium Digital, a startup that tokenizes uranium ore for easier trading than was ever possible in the highly regulated metal's surprisingly underfinancialized market.

A "major nuclear renaissance from AI" is afoot, predicted Portal Ventures General Partner Catrina Wang. Her firm wrote the biggest check for Uranium Digital after concluding the startup was using crypto rails to more effectively tap into a "latent market."

Uranium Digital isn't the only effort to shake up the tightly controlled market for the most critical component of nuclear fuel. Just last week a separate startup started selling exposure to yellowcake (a form of powdered uranium) atop the Tezos blockchain.

According to Uranium Digital's founder Alex Dolesky, his firm is the best-positioned to get the job done. He realized trading commodities years ago that, perplexingly, this commodity didn't have a mature and robust market on par with gold, silver and other metals. Because of its tight controls, it traded solely in opaque deals across OTC desks manned by institutional players — inaccessible to retail traders.

Enter tokenization. Tokens alone can't power a nuclear reactor. But Uranium Digital represents yellowcake with tokens that anyone can trade. To keep things kosher the underlying metal sits in storage, inaccessible to anyone but buyers with the right licensure to claim physical settlement.

"What we're creating is the first vector where you have an actual functioning commodity contract underlying spot uranium, and a vector where both retail and institutional volume can converge," Dolesky said.

He said the increased participation will be a boon for efficiency and price discovery.

This is where Uranium Digital differs from many of the crypto startups that CoinDesk covers in 2024. It isn't going to issue its own "token" to represent decentralized governance, or whatever. Instead, it's a pure-play blockchain-as-a-solution company.

"Its kind of a traditional VC equity-style play in the way that value accretes," Dolesky said.

For his part, Dolesky is playing the AI bet a bit more conservatively than his startup's biggest backer. He says that uranium trading is at such an early stage that "we first need to establish a financialized market."