The marketplace for tokenized gold is increasing in keeping with rising demand for bodily bullion, highlighting a broader shift towards conventional safe-haven belongings as geopolitical tensions and commerce uncertainty push buyers away from the US greenback.
On Monday, Tether stated its Tether Gold (XAUt) now represents greater than half of your complete gold-backed stablecoin market, with a complete worth exceeding $2.2 billion.
Tether disclosed that 520,089 XAUt tokens have been in circulation on the finish of the fourth quarter, with every token backed one-for-one by bodily gold held in reserve.
CEO Paolo Ardoino stated the corporate’s Tether Gold funding car, which holds the bullion backing XAUt, has grown massive sufficient to take a seat alongside some sovereign gold holders when it comes to scale.
The announcement got here as Comex gold eclipsed $5,000 a troy ounce for the primary time, following a year-to-date achieve of about 17%.
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The US greenback slips as official gold shopping for accelerates
Gold’s rally has been years within the making, pushed largely by central banks steadily lowering their reliance on the US greenback and rebuilding bullion reserves as a hedge in opposition to foreign money danger, rising geopolitical stress and, to a lesser diploma, sanctions publicity.
Central banks accelerated their shopping for within the second half of 2025, shopping for a web 220 tonnes of gold within the third quarter, in line with knowledge from the World Gold Council. The renewed accumulation displays a broader effort by reserve managers to diversify away from dollar-denominated belongings and towards shops of worth that sit outdoors the worldwide monetary system.
These flows have coincided with a sustained slide within the greenback since US President Donald Trump took workplace in early 2025. The US Greenback Index (DXY) fell 9.4% final yr, its worst annual efficiency since 2017, and has prolonged its decline this month, dropping to its lowest stage since September.
Since Jan. 19, the index has dropped one other 2.4%, in line with Bloomberg knowledge.
Some analysts warn that the transfer might not be over. Otavio Costa of Azuria Capital stated the greenback has damaged under a long-term assist pattern line for the primary time in additional than a decade, with affirmation possible on a month-to-month foundation.
“The debasement commerce is now properly understood,” Costa wrote, “however the subsequent section is a broad weakening of the US greenback relative to different fiat currencies.”
Bitcoin (BTC) has but to meaningfully substitute gold in that function. Whereas typically pitched as a hedge in opposition to foreign money debasement, Bitcoin has failed to draw the identical regular, long-term flows, significantly from older and extra conservative buyers.
An evaluation by funding strategist Karel Mercx of Dutch monetary advisory model and funding journal Beleggers Belangen discovered that Bitcoin has up to now fallen wanting its promise as a debasement commerce, leaving gold as the popular hedge.
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