Growing investor interest in tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) is now extending beyond precious metals to include industrial commodities like copper, with early signs of demand appearing on the Solana blockchain. According to recent data, copper-linked RWAs, while still small in absolute value, are showing notable growth, coinciding with a broader surge in tokenization activity expected to accelerate through 2026.
On the Solana-based platform Remora Markets, the tokenized copper product Copper rMetal (CPERr) reached an all-time high near $619,433 in late January. This surge was accompanied by a significant spike in trading activity on January 28, where combined spot and perpetual volumes on Remora hit roughly $8.5 million, involving over 13,300 trades and more than 1,000 active traders. Remora Markets' overall platform revenue has reportedly crossed the $110 million mark, driven by demand for tokenized NASDAQ stocks and metals.
The narrative is supported by a projected long-term structural imbalance in the physical copper market. Institutional commodity tokenization platform Toto Finance forecasts that global copper demand could reach around 42 million tons by 2040, while supply is expected to peak around 2030 and then decline, creating a widening gap. "This isn't a cycle, it's a structural gap. As copper becomes strategic, tokenization is how access, ownership, and liquidity evolve," Toto Finance stated.
Key industrial drivers for this demand include the AI boom, global power grid expansion, and electric vehicle production, all of which are highly copper-intensive. Analyst Mike Investing has argued that the amount of copper needed to be mined over the next 18 years will equal the total extracted over the previous 10,000 years, predicting copper prices could rise 2–5 times within the next 14 months.
Beyond Remora, other early indicators are emerging. Ondo's tokenized version of the Global X Copper Miners ETF (COPXON) quickly reached a market capitalization of about $3 million in its first week of January. While tokenized gold and silver products still dominate the metals category on RWA platforms, copper is now climbing into third place by value on Remora, signaling a shift in investor focus.
The growth in tokenized copper is seen as part of a larger trend where blockchain technology bridges traditional commodity scarcity narratives with on-chain accessibility. This development is also linked to the performance of the STEP token from Step Finance, Remora Markets' parent company, as all revenue from Remora is directed towards buying back STEP tokens, with technical analysis suggesting potential for significant price appreciation.
