January 26, 2026 – Tether Gold (XAU₮), the world’s leading tokenized gold product, continues to strengthen its position as the center of the gold-backed stablecoin market as demand for real-world asset tokenization accelerates amid record gold prices and persistent macroeconomic uncertainty.
Gold-backed stablecoins expanded rapidly in 2025, increasing their market capitalization from approximately $1.3 billion to more than $4 billion. This growth was driven by record gold prices, geopolitical fragmentation, and increased demand from institutional investors and digital natives for secure assets that remain entirely on-chain. In a further highlight of the growing global interest and huge demand for physical gold, spot gold soared above USD 5,000 per ounce in the days leading up to this certification. Within this market, Tether Gold dominated issuance and distribution, accounting for approximately 60 percent of the total supply of gold-backed stablecoins.
As of December 31, 2025, 11:59 PM UTCTG Commodities, SA de CV, a registered stablecoin issuer and digital asset service provider under El Salvador’s Digital Asset Issuance Law, the Administrator of El Salvador Sociedad Anonyma de Capital Variable, confirms that:
- Key indicators at the end of Q4 2025
- Total physical gold reserves: 520,089.350 fine troy ounces
- Total XAU₮ tokens in circulation: 520,089.300000 XAU₮
- Gold Backing: 1:1, each XAU₮ token is backed by one pure troy ounce of physical gold.
- Total market value: 2,246,458,120 USD
- Tokens sold: 409,217.640000 XAU₮
- Tokens available for sale: 110,871.660000 XAU₮
- Gold reserves are held in Switzerland in full compliance with the London Good Delivery Standard as set out by the London Bullion Market Association.
Tether has emerged as a significant institutional gold accumulator through its gold-backed tokenization strategy. Tether now ranks among the top 30 gold-holding countries in the world, ahead of countries such as Greece, Qatar and Australia, according to IMF data and a late 2025 Jeffries report. Tether Gold Investments, which includes Tether International Limited and TG Commodities Limited, added approximately 27 tonnes of gold to the fund’s exposure in the fourth quarter of 2025 alone, exceeding the gold purchases of most individual central banks over the same period.
“Through Tether Gold, we operate the Tether Gold Investment Fund at a scale that rivals sovereign gold holders, and that gives us real responsibility,” he said. Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. “XAU₮ exists to remove ambiguity at a time when trust in the financial system is weakening and under pressure testing from both financial institutions and the public. All tokens represent physically held and vaulted gold that can be verified on-chain, and the growth of the market indicates that investors increasingly expect tokenized assets to meet the same standards as national and institutional reserves.”
Gold is emerging as a foundational asset in the real-world asset sector as asset managers, fintech platforms, and sovereign market participants increasingly adopt blockchain-based issuance and custody models. Tether Gold remains at the forefront of this market through rigorous 1:1 physical backing, daily transparency updates, and regulated issuance under El Salvador’s Digital Asset Issuance Law. As global markets continue to navigate financial uncertainty and structural shifts in capital allocation, XAU₮ combines Swiss custodianship, regulated issuance, and open on-chain validation to define responsible gold tokenization at scale, providing direct exposure to physical gold ownership while maintaining liquidity, portability, and transparency.
For more information, see the latest XAU₮ certification report here.
For more information on reserves, regulatory disclosures and vault transparency, please visit https://gold.tether.to.
