AI is Revaluing the Real World: Why Gold, Silver, and Copper are Becoming Important Again
AI is reassessing the value of the real world: why gold, silver, and copper are regaining importance.
For over a decade, financial innovation centered on digitalization, from internet platforms to RWA tokenization. However, AI's rapid development highlights a deeper dependency: the physical infrastructure underpinning the AI era, not just code. Contrary to being "dematerialized," AI strengthens reliance on the real world. Every model training and deployment requires vast resources—data centers, energy grids, cooling systems, and critical industrial materials like copper, silver, and gold, which provide irreplaceable conductivity and durability.
This shift is redefining the asset layer structure. A new "Asset Stack" is emerging:
- Physical Layer: Metals, energy, and raw materials.
- Financial Layer: Government bonds, ETFs, structured products.
- Digital Layer: Tokenization infrastructure and programmable assets.
The digital layer relies on the financial layer, which ultimately depends on the physical layer. While markets previously rewarded upper-layer assets like stocks and digital platforms, AI is redirecting attention to foundational real-world resources. S&P Global forecasts data center copper demand will surge from 1.1 million tons in 2025 to 2.5 million tons by 2040, amid a growing global supply deficit. This signals a long-term structural shift where energy, metals, and infrastructure form a critical "Physical Layer" that could limit AI's expansion.
Tokenization alone doesn't create value; it connects markets to already-trusted assets. Successful tokenization requires mature demand, deep liquidity, and institutional consensus. Thus, the logical progression begins with sovereign debt (highest liquidity and trust), followed by gold (centuries of global consensus), then silver (blending reserve and industrial utility). Future expansion may include industrially critical materials like copper.
Within gold, a key divergence is appearing. Gold ETFs solved "investability" but keep gold within traditional financial systems. Gold tokens, like Matrixdock's XAUm, explore making gold a functional part of the digital financial system—enabling instant settlement, cross-border collateral, and programmable utility without intermediaries.
Looking ahead, industrial metals are evolving from commodities to strategic "functional assets." Silver faces a structural supply deficit, driven by demand from solar, EVs, and AI infrastructure. While gold represents a "Store of Value," metals like silver and copper are becoming "Stores of Function." Tokenizing them, as with Matrixdock's XAGm for silver, focuses not just on reserve value but on bridging physical commodity systems with digital infrastructure for efficient circulation.
Ultimately, the asset layer is evolving to be more grounded in the strategic, physical realities of the economy. The most valuable assets for tokenization may not be the easiest to digitize, but those most essential for long-term economic and technological foundations.
链捕手05/13 11:00
