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Gould had a great performance this year. During the rally of 2025, the price of gold crossed the levels of $3,000 and $4,000 for the first time in history.
This precious metal has risen by about 60% since January 1, 2025.
Gold vs. Bitcoin
Bitcoin, which many argue is the digital counterpart of gold, has not fared well. At the same time, the price of the largest cryptocurrency fell by 5%.
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Given this, it is ironic that the same technology pioneered by Bitcoin is now being used to make investment exposure to gold more accessible than ever.
What is Tether Gold (XAUT)?
Gold tokens like Tether Gold (XAUT) It allows anyone around the world to add gold immediately to their wallet (with some reservations that we will explain later).
XAUT is a gold-backed token issued by Tether, which also issues the world’s largest stablecoin, USDT. Conceptually, XAUT is similar to the dollar-pegged stablecoins that cryptocurrency investors are intimately familiar with. Each XAUT token in circulation is backed by one ounce of premium gold held by Tether.
XAUT is available as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain, and can be purchased on a variety of centralized exchanges and DEXs.
Tokens can be exchanged directly for physical gold, but this only applies to a small number of investors in practice. This is because you need to have a gold bar of XAUT tokens to directly exchange your tokens for physical gold. Tether says customers who want to exchange for physical gold must deposit at least 430 XAUT ($1.8 million at current prices).
Tether launched XAUT in 2020, shortly after Paxos launched the PAXG device in September 2019. At the time of writing, XAUT is transferring about $2.1 billion in gold. The second largest gold token, PAXG, is not too far behind with a market cap of $1.4 billion.
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It should be noted that Tether is among the 30 largest holders of gold in the world, and owns about 116 tons of this precious metal. However, only a part of these reserves is used to support XAUT, as the amount of tokens in circulation is equivalent to about 16.2 tons of gold (1,329 gold bars).
Why investors choose XAUT?
XAUT is one of the easiest ways to have the opportunity to discover gold as an investment, especially if you are already in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. All you need is an Ethereum compatible wallet with some funds, and you can buy XAUT in seconds on a DEX like Uniswap.
When I bought XAUT on Uniswap, I had the same “aha” moment I had when I was just starting out in crypto. Realizing that I could add some gold to my wallet in seconds without needing KYC or any other annoying processes reminded me that blockchain actually enables really cool things, even if the community constantly complains about the lack of adoption.
Of course, you can also sell XAUT as easily as you can buy it, which is much more convenient than selling physical gold. This makes it one of the most liquid ways to gain exposure to gold. The XAUT market is open 24/7, and can be accessed instantly by anyone in the world thanks to decentralized exchanges.
Another advantage of XAUT is its divisibility. With XAUT, you can gain exposure to 0.0000001 ounce of gold, making it truly accessible to everyone.
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What you should keep in mind when buying gold tokens like XAUT
While gold tokens like XAUT are a very convenient way to invest in gold, holding them is not the same as holding actual gold.
Most importantly, these tokens come with counterparty risk. Gold-backed tokens ultimately rely on trust in the issuer (like Tether for XAUT) to hold gold reserves, keep them well-secured and honor redemptions. If the custodian fails financially, acts dishonestly, or no longer has access to the bullion, the value of the tokens may decrease, or you may not be able to redeem that value at all.
In addition to this, the infrastructure on the chain presents its own set of risks: hacking, technical faults, or smart contract malfunctions that could prevent you from using your tokens or cause the token supply to deviate from the current reserve.
Converting tokens into physical gold or cash is not always easy. Redemptions may come with minimums, additional costs, geographic or legal restrictions, and in volatile circumstances, the issuer may pause or slow down redemptions. At the same time, owning physical gold gives you direct control over how you can store it yourself and sell it when you want.
In this article, we mainly focused our attention on XAUT, since it is the most popular gold token. However, it is worth noting that the PAXGs are functionally very similar, and the choice between them ultimately depends on which issuer you trust more (Tether or Paxos).
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What’s next for gold: Investors expect new price records in 2026
In 2025, gold achieved its reputation as a “safe haven” and proved to be one of the most successful investments. Its rally has been driven by a rare combination of factors: lower interest rates and real yields, growing geopolitical and trade uncertainty, a marked weakness in the US dollar and steady demand from central banks.
to wait the price Coincodex’s algorithm, which is based on asset price history, volatility and broader market trends, expects gold to continue rising throughout 2026 and peak at around $6,400.
Although this prediction is very optimistic, Coincodex is not the only one who expects the price to rise gold It will continue to reach new all-time highs in 2026.
The major investment bank Goldman Sachs recently realized Questionnaire 900 clients included institutional investors, 36% of whom expect the price of gold to reach $5,000 in 2026. Meanwhile, 33% of respondents made a more conservative prediction that gold will reach between $4,500 and $5,000, which also led to new all-time highs (the current record is about $4,377).
Dan Struyven, head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs, provided a price target of $4,900, citing central bank demand and continued interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve as key factors driving gold prices higher.
Meanwhile, analysts from JP Morgan and HSBC expect the price of gold to exceed $5,000 next year.
