Tokenized gold boom trims Tether Gold’s market share despite rising XAUT supply

By Brian Danga • Edited by Kyle Baird
Markets•January 26, 2026, 9:58AM EST
GoogleMake us preferred
Tokenized gold boom trims Tether Gold’s market share despite rising XAUT supply

Quick Take

  • Tether Gold controlled approximately 60% of the $4 billion gold-backed stablecoin market at the end of 2025, Tether said Monday.
  • The price of gold surpassed $5,100 per troy ounce on Monday for the first time, pushing the tokenized gold market cap to new highs with it.
Advertisement

Tether Gold’s share of the tokenized gold market has narrowed in January as the sector expanded rapidly alongside a surge in spot gold prices, even as a new year-end attestation shows XAUT dominated issuance at the close of 2025 with a 60% market share.

The audit applied IFRS recognition and measurement principles, verifying both the existence and fair value of the gold held by the custodian, while clarifying that the assessment is limited to Dec. 31, 2025, and does not cover activity before or after that date, the auditing firm said.

Data from The Block shows that this figure has now dropped to slightly over 50%, with XAUT's market cap of roughly $2.6 billion out of a total $5.25 billion tokenized gold market cap.

Expand Chart

The Dec. 31 report from TG Commodities S.A. de C.V., the El Salvador-based issuer, states the company holds 520,089.350 fine troy ounces of LBMA Good Delivery gold. This backs 520,089.300 XAUT tokens in circulation at a 1:1 ratio. The total market value of the gold held was $2.25 billion, based on a price of around $4,320 per troy ounce.

Of the total minted supply, over 409,200 tokens have been sold to market participants, while around 110,870 tokens remain available for sale. Notably, Tether Gold Investments added approximately 27 metric tons of gold exposure in the fourth quarter of 2025, a volume that exceeded purchases by most individual central banks in the same period.

“Through Tether Gold, we are operating at a scale that now places the Tether Gold Investment Fund alongside sovereign gold holders, and that carries real responsibility,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in the statement. “XAUT exists to remove ambiguity at a time when confidence in monetary systems is weakening and it is being put through a pressure test by both institutions and people.”

This expansion occurred as spot gold prices reached record highs, exceeding $5,000 per troy ounce on Monday, topping out at a mid-day high of over $5,100.