Oil Is the Most Traded Commodity on Earth and the Most Absent Onchain

Oil is the most actively traded physical commodity in the world, with annual transaction volumes exceeding $6 trillion. From crude benchmarks like Brent and WTI to refined products powering transportation, manufacturing, and industry, oil is the lifeblood of global commerce and energy security.

But oil is not just an economic driver. In tokenized form, oil could offer 24/7 market access, fractional exposure, and digital settlement, connecting the world’s largest physical market to the growing liquidity of DeFi. And yet, despite this potential, oil has almost no presence onchain.

What Makes Oil an Ideal RWA?

Oil checks every box: deep liquidity, mature global derivatives markets, institutional demand, and transparent pricing benchmarks. As a tokenized asset, it could enable borderless participation, programmable settlement, and integration into onchain collateral and trading strategies.

So why does it not exist in any meaningful way in DeFi?

The Problem: Tokenized Oil Does Not Exist at Scale

While gold has at least begun its tokenized journey, oil remains absent. Attempts to bring oil onchain have been limited, often hindered by storage, delivery, and regulatory complexity. Without compliant custody models, scalable issuance, and active integration into DeFi protocols, the most traded commodity in the world remains sidelined.

Even if oil tokens emerge, most designs so far have been passive price trackers, non-yielding, custodial, and disconnected from lending markets, DEXs, or derivatives. Without embedded utility, oil’s onchain representation risks becoming just another idle RWA.

The Opportunity: From Price Exposure to Productive Capital

The traditional oil market already supports one of the most sophisticated global derivatives ecosystems, including futures, options, and swaps. These can be tapped to generate yield and create structured products. Tokenized oil can serve as multi-asset collateral, integrate into perpetual futures markets, and diversify DeFi treasuries beyond crypto-native assets.

Tokenized Oil and the Broader RWA Landscape

Energy markets dwarf most commodity sectors, yet RWAs onchain remain concentrated in metals and bonds. Successfully tokenizing and activating oil would not only unlock a multi-trillion-dollar sector but also pave the way for other complex energy RWAs like natural gas or electricity contracts.

Energy is not just another asset. It is the engine of the global economy. Making it functional onchain is a proving ground for the future of RWA finance.

How Cables Solves It

Cables is built to make real-world assets like oil usable onchain, not just tokenized but functional. Most RWA projects stop at representation. Cables goes further by transforming idle assets into productive capital.

cabOIL will be the first example: a fully-backed, yield-bearing tokenized oil asset designed for active participation. Users will be able to mint cabOIL with collateral, earn yield through real-world energy market strategies, and deploy it across DeFi for staking, vaults, swaps, and derivatives.

This is the new standard. Not passive, not speculative, but purposeful. Cables is laying the foundation for a utility-first RWA economy, where every asset earns, integrates, and evolves onchain.

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