Uranium has fully landed on decentralized finance (DeFi) following the launch of xU3O8-based lending on DeFi aggregator Oku Trade and powered by Morpho, the universal network that connects lenders and borrowers to the best possible opportunities worldwide
In a watershed moment for the DeFi sector, holders of xU3O8, the world’s first tokenized physical uranium product, will be able to leverage physical uranium as collateral for DeFi loans, supplying the token in exchange for USDC via a new vault that launched today using Morpho’s infrastructure.
In this way, users of the vault can secure loans while maintaining their exposure to the asset that looks set to underpin the revival of nuclear energy
Ben Elvidge, Product Lead at Uranium.io and Head of Commercial Applications at Trilitech (Tezos R&D Hub in London), explains the paramount importance of this launch for the RWA scene as a whole:
Integrating with Morpho represents a significant step in uranium market maturation. We’re bringing DeFi lending capabilities to a commodity that has historically been trapped in opaque OTC markets with limited liquidity options.
By depositing their xU3O8 in the vault, uranium investors can easily unlock liquidity and explore the thriving DeFi ecosystem on Etherlink, the EVM-compatibility layer for Tezos.
Recent months have seen the integration of numerous new DeFi protocols on Etherlink, driving TVL to record heights in October and signaling widespread interest among DeFi users in the growing network. Meanwhile, existing DeFi users who may not already have exposure to uranium gain access to a novel use case combining exposure to a commodity that was previously only available to institutional investors with DeFi infrastructure.
The xU3O8 token represents beneficial ownership of physical uranium stored at facilities operated by Cameco, one of the world’s largest uranium providers, with support from Curzon Uranium, a global uranium trading company, and Archax, the first registered crypto service provider in the U.K.
This integration also cements the status of Morpho as a go-to tokenization platform for various classes of RWAs. Launched in 2022, in three years, Morpho amassed $10 billion in deposits and almost $7 billion in TVL spanning across its diverse lineup of products.
