Gold-backed stablecoins near $4 billion as safe-haven demand grows onchain

Gold-backed stablecoins have risen to over $4 billion in market capitalization, nearly tripling from approximately $1.3 billion at the start of 2025. This growth reflects both the strong performance of gold itself and the increasing appetite among crypto investors for tokenized precious metals exposure.

Gold prices have climbed roughly 66% year-to-date in 2025, helping drive inflows into these blockchain-based gold products. The precious metal's rally has been fueled by macroeconomic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions, and persistent demand, creating favorable conditions for both physical and tokenized gold adoption.

Tether Gold (XAUt) leads the market with approximately $2.2 billion in market capitalization, representing 50% of the total gold-backed stablecoin sector. Paxos Gold (PAXG) holds the second position at around $1.5 billion. Together, these two protocols account for nearly 90% of the tokenized gold market, with XAUt having recently overtaken PAXG following aggressive supply expansion throughout 2025.

The growth in gold-backed stablecoins indicates that crypto investors increasingly seek exposure to traditional safe-haven assets while remaining onchain. These tokens allow fractional ownership of physical gold bars stored in secure vaults.

Tether has emerged as a major institutional gold accumulator. The company added 26 tons of gold in the third quarter alone, exceeding the purchases of most individual central banks during the same period. With approximately 116 tons held by end-September, Tether ranks among the top 30 global gold holders according to IMF data, ahead of countries like Greece, Qatar, and Australia.