The gold tokenization craze is on the rise: XAUt/PAXG has surged rapidly, with whales buying $30 million in a week, and the RWA market is welcoming a new breakout point.

As gold prices continue to reach historic highs, gold-backed crypto tokens (tokenized gold) have become unique investment vehicles, with a total volume exceeding $3 billion and daily trading volume surpassing $600 million, making it the fastest rising tokenized asset class to date. On-chain data shows that in the past week, two crypto whales purchased over $30 million worth of Tether Gold (XAUt). Analyst Alex Tapscott predicts that as gold prices break through $4,000, the trading volume of tokenized gold may soar, as this asset bridges the psychological gap between traditional finance and Decentralized Finance.

New Investment Favorite: The Explosive Growth of the Tokenization Gold Market

Tokenization of gold combines the stability of gold and its 5000-year record of value storage with the flexibility of blockchain technology, attracting conservative investors looking for stability and real-world value support.

· Whale accelerates layout

Lookonchain data shows that in the past week, two crypto Whales purchased over 30 million dollars worth of Tether Gold [XAUt].

CMCC Global Capital Markets CEO Alex Tapscott stated that the total volume of tokenization of gold has risen from less than 500 million USD at the beginning of this year to approximately 3 billion USD, with a daily volume exceeding 600 million USD.

· The fastest growing tokenization assets

Tapscott added that gold-backed tokens are by far the fastest-growing tokenized asset class, in line with Galaxy Digital's forecast that tokenized assets will reach $1.9 trillion over the next five years.

Token Mechanism and Main Participants

The value of tokenized gold is directly linked to physical gold and held by certified custodians, providing investors with digital convenience and asset familiarity.

· Value peg and redemption commitment

Each Token represents a fixed amount of ownership of gold (usually one troy ounce or a fraction thereof), and the issuer promises to redeem an equivalent amount of gold upon presentation of the Token.

· Examples of mainstream Tokens

Tether Gold [XAUt]: Represents ownership of one troy ounce of digital gold, with the physical gold stored in secure, audited vaults, and ownership proof and transparency reports provided regularly by Tether.

PAX Gold [PAXG]: Backed by one fine troy ounce of London Good Delivery gold bars, issued by Paxos Trust Company, which is regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services.

Core Use Case: Hedging against Inflation and DeFi Collateral

Tokenization of gold goes beyond simple value storage, playing a key role in Decentralized Finance and hedging strategies.

· Hedge against inflation and geopolitical risks

BrettonWoods co-founder Alex Melikhov believes that persistent inflation and geopolitical tensions are driving investors towards hard assets such as gold.

Tokenization of gold has become an alternative to fiat-backed stablecoins due to its reliable infrastructure, regulated issuers, and audited reserves.

· DeFi collateral and leverage

Tapscott mentioned that tokenization of gold can be used as collateral in DeFi protocols for staking, allowing investors to gain leverage. This makes gold more practical, fungible, and margin-tradable.

Risks, Challenges and Future Outlook

Despite its immense potential, tokenization of gold still faces challenges such as trust, transparency, and liquidity.

· Trust and transparency are key

Melikhov believes that the main challenges are custody and regulation, and that investors must trust that the gold truly exists, is unrestricted, and can be redeemed on demand.

CEX.IO Chief Analyst Illia Otychenko emphasized that after Tether released a report stating that XAUt is backed by 7.66 tons of physical gold, the daily volume of XAUt quickly surpassed that of other competitors.

· Liquidity challenges

Currently, only a few places provide deep trading markets for gold-backed encryption Tokens, although mainstream CEX, derivatives exchanges, and decentralized exchanges are gradually enhancing their liquidity.

· Trillion-dollar potential

Tapscott predicts that in the coming years, the tokenization of real-world assets will reach trillions of dollars, with gold being one of the biggest beneficiaries. He concluded, “Tokenization of gold is just one of the many ways blockchain will bring finance into the 21st century.”

Conclusion

With the continuous rise of gold prices and the large purchases by whales, tokenized gold is rapidly becoming the most prominent niche in the RWA sector. It successfully bridges the stability of traditional finance with the efficiency of decentralized finance. While investors must pay attention to core challenges such as custody and reserve transparency, macro driving factors like Federal Reserve interest rate expectations and geopolitical risks will continue to drive demand for this digital hard asset, laying the foundation for its reach to trillion-dollar levels in the coming years.

This article is for news information only and does not constitute any investment advice. The cryptocurrency market is highly volatile, and investors should make decisions cautiously.