The London Metal Exchange is at an early stage of exploring tokenisation of off-warrant metal inventories held in its Hong Kong warehouses to support business financing, for example as loan collateral, according to Reuters reporting cited by WatcherGuru and Cointelegraph on Oct. 29, 2026.

The London Metal Exchange is at an early stage of exploring tokenisation of off-warrant metal inventories held in its Hong Kong warehouses to support business financing, for example as loan collateral, according to Reuters reporting cited by WatcherGuru and Cointelegraph on Oct. 29, 2026.

In its comment to Reuters, LME said: "The LME is at the early stages of exploring the tokenisation of off-warrant metal inventories to support financing of business" and that it will engage stakeholders as plans form.

Three sources said LME has arranged an invitation-only industry roundtable in early November to discuss the initiative. Metal on warrant is excluded because it already has title documents for trading or collateral; off-warrant stocks lack a standard financing mechanism, though LME has required warehouses to report them since 2020.

The push is tied to Hong Kong's five-year economic blueprint published in September to expand its commodities hub, itself rooted in China's 15th five-year plan published in March that for the first time backed Hong Kong as a commodity trading powerhouse leveraging its LME delivery-point status. Reuters notes the token plan is also expected to give the 149-year-old exchange, owned by HKEX since 2012, a new revenue stream.

Timelines, volumes, blockchain, issuer and lenders were not named.