Cardano Treasury Proposal Would Put About $5 Million Into Tokenized Copper

Cardano's on-chain treasury is weighing an unusual real-world asset proposal.

The proposal

Toto Finance, which turns physical commodities into blockchain tokens, is requesting 22 million ADA, roughly $5 million, for what it calls the Cardano Strategic Copper Reserve, CoinDesk reported. Voting closes Nov. 15.

Roughly two-thirds of the money, about ₳14.7 million, would go toward Grade 1 copper cathodes kept in a U.S. warehouse near New Orleans that COMEX approves, and each verified pound would be represented by one CuTT token. Toto plans to keep the metal for a year and a half to two years before selling it gradually, and to send the net proceeds and any unspent funds back to the treasury within three years. The remaining third would cover storage, insurance, audits, oversight and Toto's work.

The math

If the full budget is spent and ADA's dollar price is unchanged, copper would need to rise about 49.4% for the treasury to break even, according to CoinDesk's analysis. Toto could receive up to about 3.36 million ADA in fees and margins, roughly 15% of the request, and would keep commercial rights to its CuTT business.

Founder Monty Metzger said bullish forecasts could clear that hurdle but acknowledged that commodity prices can fall, and he said Toto would not profit from the proposal, according to CoinDesk. The tokens would first be minted on Ethereum and bridged to Cardano, and the contracts and security reviews are still to be completed.

Why it matters for crypto

The vote is a test of how a community-governed treasury weighs tokenized real-world assets against risk, cost and the use of its limited withdrawal budget.