Tokenized gold becomes key pillar of on-chain RWAs as bullion goes digital

The largest stablecoin operator, Tether, emerged as a pivotal buyer, with investment-bank estimates showing it held about 116 tonnes of gold – roughly $14 billion by late September – placing it among the biggest non-central-bank holders and tightening near-term supply. In parallel, the World Gold Council prepared a London pilot for “pooled gold interests,” a digital layer intended to move fractionalized bullion within the market and broaden access beyond static vault holdings. Together, issuer demand and new rails helped push tokenized gold into the mainstream of on-chain assets.

Tether’s bullion buildup coincided with a year of extraordinary price strength for gold, with analysts linking part of the rally to private-sector buying from the stablecoin operator alongside heavy central-bank demand. The scale of those purchases – outpacing official-sector flows over two consecutive quarters – reframed gold’s relationship with crypto, as a token issuer’s reserves strategy influenced a traditionally conservative commodity market.

On the market-infrastructure side, the World Gold Council’s initiative aims to standardize a transferable digital representation of vaulted metal so that commercial participants – banks, trading houses and market makers – can pass gold within the ecosystem and post it as collateral. If adopted, such instruments could complement on-chain gold tokens by improving settlement and liquidity between off-chain vaults and digital venues, a step the council argues is necessary for gold to compete with newer programmable assets.

Regulatory cross-currents also shaped 2025’s tokenized-gold landscape. A new U.S. law placed limits on using gold as reserves for certain stablecoins, prompting questions about how issuers structure backing and whether bullion-linked products migrate toward distinct token formats or jurisdictions. Market observers cautioned that tighter rules could redirect flows without diminishing appetite for digital gold exposure, given its role as a hedge within crypto-native portfolios and a bridge between traditional stores of value and on-chain finance.

While trading data vary by venue, industry research and exchange commentary pointed to record activity in gold-pegged tokens through the year, reflecting a broader RWA trend in which on-chain wrappers for familiar assets – dollars, Treasuries and bullion – captured flows from both crypto users seeking stability and traditional desks experimenting with programmable collateral. The convergence of issuer accumulation, rising investor familiarity and new digital pipes in London positioned tokenized gold as a leading entry point for RWAs heading into 2026.

Tokenized gold typically represents fractional claims on specific bars or vaulted pools, redeemable through designated custodians, and trades around the clock on crypto rails. The 2025 acceleration followed years of incremental development; what changed was the combination of large-scale private accumulation by a dominant stablecoin issuer and the bullion market’s willingness to test a standardized digital layer for collateral and transfer. Whether that momentum persists will depend on how regulatory frameworks settle and how quickly traditional participants integrate digital settlement alongside existing over-the-counter workflows.