Tether Gold (XAUT) is a digital token where each token represents ownership of one troy ounce of physical gold held in a secure vault in Switzerland. Issued by TG Commodities Limited (an entity associated with the Tether group), XAUT was launched in January 2020 and is available as both an ERC-20 token on Ethereum and a TRC-20 token on Tron.
How XAUT Works
Each XAUT token is associated with a specific gold bar identified by a unique serial number. Holders can verify their allocated gold bars through the Tether Gold website. The minimum purchase directly from Tether is 50 XAUT (approximately $155,000 at current prices), though fractional amounts can be bought on secondary markets like Bitfinex and Kraken.
XAUT holders can redeem their tokens for physical gold delivery (minimum one 400 oz bar, approximately $1.24 million) or for the cash equivalent. This physical redemption option differentiates XAUT from purely paper gold products.
Market Size and Performance
As of March 2026, XAUT has a market capitalisation of approximately $700 million, backed by around 7,700 kg of gold. The token's price tracks the spot gold price closely, with minor deviations during periods of high crypto market volatility. With gold prices above $3,100 per ounce, XAUT has delivered approximately 25% returns over the past 12 months, mirroring the physical gold rally.
Transparency Concerns
XAUT inherits some of the transparency concerns that have historically surrounded Tether's USDT stablecoin. While TG Commodities publishes quarterly attestation reports, critics note that these are not full audits and provide less regulatory oversight than competitor PAX Gold (PAXG), which is supervised by the New York Department of Financial Services.
Tether has been gradually increasing its transparency, publishing more frequent reports and engaging larger accounting firms. However, the company's history of regulatory settlements (including a $41 million fine from the CFTC in 2021) means some investors prefer the more regulated PAXG alternative.
Use Cases
XAUT serves several purposes: as a gold exposure vehicle for crypto-native investors, as a hedge against both dollar depreciation and crypto volatility, and as collateral in DeFi lending protocols. Some Middle Eastern and Asian investors use gold-backed tokens as a culturally familiar store of value within the digital asset ecosystem.
For XAUT details, visit Tether Gold. For gold market data, see World Gold Council.