Xpansiv CBL Holding Group (XCHG), a data-driven commodity exchange, today announced the first exchange transaction of an energy product valued according to factors like methane emissions and water utilization.
In this first-of-its-kind trade, sustainability solutions provider South Pole purchased responsible natural gas certificates from wells operated by Carbon Creek Energy and certified by Independent Energy Standards Corporation (IES). The unique product purchased by South Pole is IES-rated TrustWell™ Responsible Natural Gas (Gold), proving that production operations have met a high standard of environmental responsibility. The trade was executed on CBL Markets, an XCHG company and leading energy and environmental commodity exchange.
“We're applying principles from the digital migration of industries like music and retail to the commodity sector," said XCHG Chief Product Officer Sam Teplitsky. “Buyers, lenders, and shareholders are all demanding more information, and XCHG is the platform and marketplace to meet that demand."
To ensure data and market integrity, XCHG transformed the production data into Digital Feedstock™, a standardized digital format that combines data science, cryptography, and distributed-ledger technologies to securely track and transfer source data. This historic partnership enables certified production data to be bought, sold, and transferred—bundled or unbundled from the physical commodity—in a transparent Digital Commodity Ecosystem™, with no risk to counter-parties.
As a result, producers will have access to new revenue streams, retailers will be able to differentiate their offerings, lenders and insurers will be able to more accurately assess risk, and consumers will be able to exercise choice.
“XCHG provides a powerful platform for scaling the market for TrustWell Responsible Gas in a way that ensures integrity," said IES CEO Jory Caulkins. “The implications of this first trade are extraordinary."
“The XCHG platform is designed for a new asset class: data," said XCHG CEO Joe Madden. “XCHG ingests data sourced from each commodity's lifecycle and converts it into tradable products—digital assets linked to source data. You can't value what you can't measure, and the market can now value Intelligent Commodities™ based on factors that were previously invisible."
Demand is exploding for more information about the food, energy, and raw materials we consume. In fact, it's growing faster than traditional markets can adapt. “That's the power of our platform," Teplitsky said. “XCHG provides a scalable path to transparency by leveraging existing data and technology."
For the first time, it's possible to map, buy, and sell unique, permanently traceable attributes. “This transaction represents an important step in creating transparency for new, more responsibly produced energy solutions," said South Pole CEO and co-founder Renat Heuberger. “For our clients, it means having the opportunity to trace the origin of their power and guarantee the environmental integrity of their claims."
TrustWell certified natural gas is just the first product available; the XCHG platform enables a limitless range of offerings to support the market, wherever it leads. “This is the beginning of a new wave of market activity based on valuing impact," Teplitsky said. “We're developing a host of Digital Feedstock–based products, across multiple asset classes, to meet rising demand for differentiated commodities."
“Commodity markets were designed more than a century ago for a resource-rich, data-poor world," Madden concluded. “Today's world is rich in data, but resource-constrained. That's the world XCHG is designed to serve, and today's trade was just a natural step in the evolution of global markets."
