Share this article
Uranium Digital Raises $6.1M to Speed Debut of Crypto-Powered Spot Market
Founder Alex Dolesky says he needs to move faster to meet exceptional demand.
Mar 20, 2025, 12:00 p.m.
What to know:
- Uranium Digital raised an additional $6.1 million to create a spot trading platform for uranium using crypto infrastructure.
- Alex Dolesky's startup aims to be the first institutional market for the nuclear power fuel.
- Demand for nuclear power is recovering globally and with it, demand for an accessible spot market for uranium.
Alex Dolesky thought his startup's push to "financialize" the sleepy uranium spot market would be a hit as nuclear energy stages a global comeback. All that tokenized yellowcake's looking more like gold.
Months after netting its first $1.7 million from venture investors, Uranium Digital raised another $6.1 million in a seed round led by Framework Ventures.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
The financing will accelerate Uranium Digital's buildout of a spot trading platform for uranium that uses crypto infrastructure on the backend. It claims to be the first institutional market — crypto-powered or not — for a critical clean-energy commodity that, perplexingly, doesn't enjoy the same easy trading of its dirtier peers, coal, natural gas and oil.
A radioactive mix of high regulations and low mainstream demand previously stymied the emergence of a robust uranium spot market, Dolesky said in an interview. While the strict rules over who can take settlement of yellowcake, a powdered form of uranium oxide concentrate, aren't going anywhere, the global demand for nuclear energy is taking care of the rest.
Nuclear power is on its comeback tour. The energy source once derided by unfortunate disasters — most recently the Fukushima meltdown — is cropping up as a salve for rapidly increasing electric needs. The surge is fueling newfound interest from investors and institutions for an accessible spot market.
In crypto Dolesky said he's found an efficient avenue to create the first. He says he's "abstracting away" the usual pain points of on-chain trading so that Uranium Digital will look and feel familiar for institutional clients.
"Crypto rails for efficiency, speed and execution purposes — it's a unique opportunity," he said.
As the platform nears its launch date Dolesky plans to pour more capital into his business and engineering teams.
He realized after the pre-seed that the company's proposed solution had an even deeper well of potential users than what he called his most optimistic projections. Meeting the excess demand meant moving faster and raising more money.
"The response we've gotten from the traditional market has been such that we're effectively going live sooner than anticipated," he said.
More For You
KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
More For You
Tom Lee urges BitMine shareholders to approve share increase ahead of January 14 vote
The chairman of the former bitcoin miner-turned-ether treasury firm reiterated his view that Ethereum is the future of finance.
What to know:
- Tom Lee, chairman of Bitmine Immersion (BMNR), urged shareholders to approve an increase in the company's authorized share count from 500 million to 50 billion.
- Lee assured shareholders that the increase is not intended to dilute shares, but instead to enable capital raising, dealmaking, and future share splits.
- Shareholders have until January 14 to vote on the proposal, with the annual meeting scheduled for January 15 in Las Vegas.
Top Stories
