Silver’s Green Revolution: Tokenised Silver’s 2026 Boom with Zero Storage Fees

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The Case for Tokenised <a href="https://bbg-news.com/silver">Silver</a> in 2026: Supply Deficit, Green Demand, and Zero Storage <a href="https://bbg-news.com/fees">Fees</a>

Historically, silver has been valued both as money and as a material used in industry. These two roles often worked against each other – silver thrived during times of uncertainty but suffered when the economy slowed. However, in 2026, it’s predicted that both of these factors will be positively impacting silver’s value at the same time, a situation not seen in many years.

For the sixth year in a row, the supply of this material is limited. Growing industrial needs from sectors like solar energy, electric vehicles, 5G technology, and AI data centers are fundamentally changing how much demand there is. This is demonstrated by a significant price increase, rising from $26 per ounce at the beginning of 2024 to a record high of $121.64 on January 29, 2026, proving its ongoing importance and the need for further exploration.

Owning physical silver can be challenging compared to other precious metals. It takes up a lot of space, is costly to store securely, is subject to sales tax in many places, and can be difficult to sell quickly unless you’re dealing with small amounts. These issues don’t typically affect its more popular counterpart, gold.

The silver market has been using more silver than is being produced each year since 2021. Recent data shows a shortfall of 40.3 million troy ounces in 2025, marking the fifth year in a row with a deficit. Experts predict this gap will widen to 46.3 million ounces in 2026, making it the sixth consecutive year of silver demand exceeding supply. Over the past six years, this has resulted in a total reduction of approximately 762 million ounces from existing silver stocks – equivalent to about 10 months of annual silver mine production.

According to Philip Newman, managing director of Metals Focus – the consultancy behind the World Silver Survey – the days of easily accessible silver are over. His firm reports that while silver availability won’t always be limited, it will generally be harder to come by, with fluctuating borrowing costs and potentially bigger price swings than investors are accustomed to. Demand for silver-linked financial products, like Exchange Traded Products (ETPs), is currently very high.

While silver mining increased slightly in 2024 – reaching 819.7 million ounces, a 0.9% rise – this doesn’t solve the bigger issue. Demand for silver is consistently growing faster than the available supply, and this imbalance isn’t improving. To understand this, we need to examine how silver is being used.

The green energy mandate

Silver is essential for clean energy technologies because it conducts electricity better than any other metal. When performance and dependability are critical, silver isn’t just a good option – it’s a necessity.

Silver is now a key component in growing technologies like solar panels, electric cars, 5G towers, and the servers powering artificial intelligence. This increased use is fundamentally changing how much silver the world needs.

Solar panels are now the biggest industrial users of silver. In 2024, the industry consumed about 197.6 million ounces – representing 17% of all silver used worldwide. Silver paste is essential in solar panel construction, creating the electrical connections that capture sunlight and convert it into electricity. Newer, more efficient panel designs, like heterojunction and back-contact cells, actually require even *more* silver than older technologies.

Electric vehicles require significantly more silver—between 67% and 79% more—than traditional gasoline cars. Silver is a key component in various EV parts, including electrical connections, sensors, battery management systems, and charging equipment. Experts at The Silver Institute predict that demand for silver in the automotive industry will reach 90 million ounces per year by the mid-2020s. They also forecast that EVs will become the main driver of automotive silver demand, surpassing gasoline cars, by 2027.

Data centers powered by artificial intelligence are a relatively new and rapidly growing source of industrial demand. Each server motherboard uses between 2 and 5 grams of silver. With major companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta investing heavily in new computing infrastructure, the amount of silver needed is also increasing significantly.

In December 2025, the Silver Institute published a detailed report, created with Oxford Economics, called *Silver, The Next Generation Metal*. The report found that silver is expected to be essential for key industries driving the shift to green energy and digital technologies over the next ten years.

Silver is increasingly being used for things like clean energy technology, rather than traditional applications like film and jewelry, and this trend is picking up speed.

The price story and what the market expects

Silver started 2024 at around $26 per ounce and climbed to approximately $72 by the end of 2025. During that period, it reached a record high of $121.64 on January 29, 2026, boosted by factors like the situation in Iran, a declining US dollar, and limited availability of funds from institutions. The average price for 2025 was $40.03 per ounce, a 42% increase from the previous year – its best yearly performance since 1979.

The recent drop in price from its January high to around US$75 is simply a correction after prices had become unusually high. It doesn’t indicate a fundamental shift in silver’s supply and demand. As we enter the second half of 2026, the silver market still faces the same conditions that drove prices up in 2025: a shortage of supply, strong demand from industry, and limited available silver stocks.

A recent survey by the LBMA, which asked 26 precious metals experts for their predictions, showed an average silver price of $79.57 per ounce for 2026. This is the most optimistic forecast the survey has ever recorded, and other analysts generally agree with this positive outlook.

Institution 2026 target Rationale
J.P. Morgan US$81/oz avg; Q4 US$85 Structural green-demand driver; silver underperformed gold in 2025 and offers catch-up
Bank of America US$135 base; US$309 bull Base case at 32:1 gold-silver ratio; extreme bull scenario echoes 1980 Hunt squeeze
Goldman Sachs US$85-100 Names silver ‘the primary strategic metal of the green transition’
Commerzbank US$90 year-end Industrial demand recovery underpins second-half price support
LBMA survey avg US$79.57 Most bullish LBMA consensus forecast in the history of the survey (26 analysts)
Reuters poll avg US$78 April 2026 update: range US$42-165 reflecting wide analyst dispersion

The weight problem – why physical silver is so expensive to own

When it comes to owning physical silver, a key issue is its weight. Currently priced around $73 an ounce, a $100,000 investment in silver would weigh about 41 kilograms. For comparison, the same $100,000 invested in gold, priced at around $4,800 per ounce, would weigh less than 700 grams.

Silver is significantly less dense than gold – about 60 times bulkier for the same value – and this impacts the cost of physically storing it. Storage fees are based on volume, not value, making silver much more expensive to store. For example, BullionVault charges four times as much to store silver annually compared to gold (0.48% vs. 0.12%). The Perth Mint’s silver storage rates are roughly double those for gold. Over five years, storage fees for silver can reach 2.4% of the total investment, compared to just 0.6% for gold, which can noticeably reduce overall returns.

Tokenisation as the structural solution

The market for tokenized commodities is currently worth around $7.3 billion. This technology could remove many of the challenges associated with traditional physical ownership.

Instead of charging investors separately for storage, these costs are built into the price of the product. Token holders don’t pay to store the silver – the issuer manages the physical silver while token holders have the right to benefit from its ownership. Storage, insurance, and safekeeping are considered part of the product’s operating expenses, not separate charges for investors.

SilverNZ offers precise control over silver investments. Each token represents one troy ounce of physical silver, allowing investors to easily buy, sell, or transfer the exact amount they need. This makes strategies like portfolio adjustments, regular investments, and gradually building a position as simple as trading stocks or bonds.

Transferability happens quickly on the blockchain. Token transfers representing silver ownership settle in minutes, 24/7, without the usual delays and paperwork associated with physical silver transactions like shipping, insurance, or bank transfers. The actual silver remains securely stored, while ownership is recorded on the blockchain. This speed and efficiency are particularly valuable for investors managing portfolios across different time zones.

Turning silver into a digital form—through a process called tokenization—unlocks possibilities that traditional silver bars don’t offer. This digital silver can be used within decentralized financial systems (DeFi) as a form of collateral, allowing investors to both hold onto their silver investment and potentially earn returns or borrow funds. Unlike physical silver, which doesn’t generate any income, a digital silver position within a DeFi system can.

A McKinsey report from June 2024 estimates that tokenized real-world assets could be worth between $2 and $4 trillion by 2030, with gold expected to be the first major asset to be tokenized. However, silver might become an even more interesting case for tokenization. This is because silver has strong industrial demand and faces greater challenges with physical ownership, creating a larger difference between its potential as an investment and how easily people can actually invest in it.

 SilverNZ and the New Zealand proposition

Techemynt Limited, a New Zealand-based financial service provider (FSP773214), has been working with blockchain and digital assets for more than 15 years. In March 2026, they introduced SilverNZ and GoldNZ, each token representing one troy ounce of high-quality precious metal. This metal is fully owned and securely stored in a New Zealand facility managed by Commonwealth Vault, and is held under a bare trust governed by New Zealand law.

SilverNZ differs from ETFs or futures contracts because it’s built on a ‘bare trust’ structure. This means token holders directly own specific amounts of physical silver. Techemynt, acting as the trustee, simply holds the silver on their behalf and is legally prohibited from using it as collateral or lending it out. Even if Techemynt were to go out of business, the silver would still belong to the token holders, not to the company’s creditors. This provides a more secure and direct ownership claim compared to investing in a fund that holds silver.

Fran Strajnar, director at Techemynt, explained the core idea behind their product when it launched: they were combining the secure storage technology of Commonwealth Vault with Techemynt’s extensive blockchain knowledge to allow investors globally to easily buy and store physical gold and silver in secure, audited vaults located in New Zealand.

New Zealand offers tax advantages that go beyond simply not charging GST. Unlike many countries, New Zealand doesn’t have taxes on capital gains, inheritances, or overall wealth. Additionally, trusts established in New Zealand don’t pay taxes on income earned from outside the country, making it a popular and well-respected location for managing wealth internationally.

The country consistently ranks among the least corrupt in the world, appearing in the top three on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. Its legal system is also clear and relies on established English common law principles.

SilverNZ is available on the Ethereum, Polygon, and Base blockchains, all using the same contract address. This makes it accessible across multiple networks, reducing risk and giving users more flexibility when using it in various DeFi applications.

Techemynt’s products – SilverNZ, GoldNZ, and NZDS (New Zealand’s first stablecoin backed by the dollar) – all follow the same regulatory guidelines. Investors can easily switch between investing in silver, gold, or New Zealand dollars directly on the blockchain, all within a secure and regulated environment, and without needing to move their assets outside of New Zealand’s financial system.

The convergence

Silver is a valuable asset with unique challenges. It’s essential for emerging technologies expected to shape the next thirty years and is often seen as a safe investment, but most investors find it difficult to actually buy and hold.

We’re now in the sixth year of a growing shortage of supply. Demand from industries driving the shift to green energy – like solar power, electric vehicles, 5G technology, and AI data centers – is expected to keep increasing for the foreseeable future. The price has risen significantly compared to two years ago, and most analysts predict it will continue to go up. The relationship between gold and silver prices is currently typical, indicating that silver may still have room to increase in value relative to gold.

For years, I’ve observed that high storage fees and logistical challenges have held back broader investment in silver. But what’s really exciting now is the emergence of a fully regulated and audited product – one that’s actually backed by physical silver – which eliminates these issues. Plus, the location where this product is based offers additional benefits and security for investors.

Recent research from the Silver Institute highlights a challenge for investors: how to benefit from the growing demand for silver – a key material for green technologies – without the costs and hassles of physically owning it. Techemynt provides a solution: each token represents one troy ounce of silver held in a New Zealand trust, eliminating storage and purchase taxes. This silver is accessible on the blockchain, 24/7.

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2026-05-01 07:11