January 27 News, as global inflation and geopolitical risks continue to rise, safe-haven funds are once again flowing into gold. Tether purchased 27 metric tons of physical gold in Q4 2025, matching the scale of the previous quarter, and also exceeded its total annual purchase volume of many central banks. Gold prices surged by 64% in 2025, and after entering 2026, they continued to rise, with a cumulative increase of 17%, and for the first time crossing the $5,000 mark, providing a strong price anchor for tokenized gold assets.
Against this backdrop, the supply of Tether Gold (XAUT) expanded rapidly, increasing from $600 million at the end of 2025 to $1.8 billion. In early 2026, its market capitalization further rose to $2.24 billion, a 26% increase in just January. Tether stated that each XAUT is backed 1:1 by physical gold to meet the global investors’ demand for digital safe-haven assets. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino pointed out that in an environment of increasing volatility in the monetary system, the existence of XAUT is meant to provide a more verifiable store of stable value for capital.
However, market expansion has not fully translated into share advantages. Data shows that in November 2025, Tether Gold still controlled nearly 60% of the tokenized gold market, but by early 2026, it had fallen back to about 50%, corresponding to a scale of approximately $2.6 billion. Pax Gold rapidly approached, reaching a market share of 40%, while Kinesis Gold jumped from almost zero to nearly 8%, becoming a new force stirring the landscape. As more projects enter this track, competition has clearly intensified.
Currently, the global tokenized gold market size has exceeded $5.2 billion. If macro uncertainties continue to push physical gold prices higher, this segment still has room for growth. For investors, Tether’s continuous gold accumulation and buyback mechanisms have strengthened XAUT’s underlying backing, but the diversification of product options also means that market share is no longer dominated by a single player. The future trend will depend on the long-term game of transparency, liquidity, and trust.
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