Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino dropped a number that should make every gold custodian nervous: 94 tonnes of XAUT, Tether's gold-backed token, transferred instantly over the past six months for just fractions of a cent in fees. At gold's current price of roughly $5,000 per troy ounce as of February 20, 2026, that 94 tonnes represents approximately $15.1 billion in value that moved across blockchains without a single armored truck, insurance policy, or assay certificate changing hands.
The claim, shared via Cointelegraph, puts a concrete dollar figure on the efficiency gap between physical gold logistics and tokenized settlement, and it arrives at a moment when Tether's gold ambitions are accelerating faster than most of the industry realizes.
$15 Billion Moved for Pennies While Physical Gold Costs 1-2%
The traditional gold supply chain is one of the most expensive settlement systems still operating at scale. Moving physical bars between vaults involves armed transport, insurance premiums (typically 0.1-0.5% of value per shipment), assaying and verification at the receiving end, and storage fees at both origin and destination. A London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) good delivery bar weighing roughly 400 troy ounces costs between $100 and $500 just to move across a city, not including insurance.
Scale that to 94 tonnes, roughly 3 million troy ounces, and the physical settlement bill would run into the tens of millions of dollars. XAUT did it for gas fees on Ethereum and Tron, where a single transfer typically costs under $1.
The math is not subtle. A 1% physical settlement cost on $15.1 billion equals $151 million. Even a conservative 0.5% estimate means $75.5 million in avoided logistics. The blockchain alternative cost, even accounting for hundreds of thousands of individual transfers, barely registers as a rounding error.
Tether's Gold Pile Now Rivals Nation States
The transfer volume is impressive, but the reserves backing those transfers tell a bigger story. According to a Jefferies analysis published in early February, Tether holds approximately 148 metric tonnes of physical gold valued at roughly $23 billion as of January 31, 2026. That places the stablecoin issuer among the top 30 gold holders globally, surpassing the sovereign reserves of Australia, the UAE, Qatar, South Korea, and Greece.
The buying pace is equally striking. Tether acquired an estimated 32 tonnes in Q4 2025 and January 2026 alone, a rate that trailed only Brazil and Poland among all global purchasers during that period. CEO Ardoino has stated the company plans to allocate 10-15% of its investment portfolio to physical gold, formalizing what has already become one of the most aggressive accumulation strategies in the commodity market.
XAUT's circulating supply reached 712,000 tokens worth $3.2 billion by the end of January, with fresh data now placing total market value above $4 billion. That gives Tether approximately 60% of the entire gold-backed stablecoin market, more than all competitors combined.
The First Gold Dividend, and Why It Matters
Ardoino's transfer data arrives days after Elemental Royalty Corporation (ELE), a Canada-based gold royalty company, announced it would offer shareholders dividends in XAUT. The move makes Elemental the first publicly listed gold firm to pay dividends in tokenized gold, a small but symbolically loaded milestone.
The connection is not coincidental. Tether acquired one-third of Elemental last year, and the dividend option effectively turns XAUT into corporate treasury infrastructure rather than just a trading instrument. Shareholders who elect XAUT over fiat receive exposure directly tied to gold's spot price with the added benefit of instant digital settlement, no brokerage intermediary, no multi-day clearing window.
Combined with Tether's $150 million investment in Gold.com announced in early February to expand retail gold tokenization, the pattern is clear: Tether is building a vertically integrated gold ecosystem where it mines, stores, tokenizes, distributes, and now pays returns in gold-backed tokens.
What This Means for Crypto Card Holders and DeFi Users
Tokenized gold at this scale has direct implications for how crypto users think about spending and collateral. XAUT already trades on major exchanges and can serve as collateral in DeFi protocols. As the token's liquidity deepens and more institutions accept it, gold-backed tokens become a viable alternative to USD stablecoins for users who want inflation-hedged spending power.
For crypto card users, the relevance is indirect but growing. Several card issuers already support multi-asset wallets where users hold a mix of stablecoins, Bitcoin, and other tokens. If XAUT or similar gold-backed tokens become loadable onto card platforms, users could spend gold at the point of sale without ever touching a physical bar or paying the traditional 3-7% premium that retail gold dealers charge.
The broader RWA (real-world asset) tokenization trend reinforces this trajectory. Ethereum's tokenized RWA market recently crossed $17 billion, and gold is one of the fastest-growing segments. As settlement infrastructure matures and regulatory frameworks catch up, the line between "holding gold" and "spending gold" continues to blur.
A $5 Billion Market With One Dominant Player
The tokenized gold market has now surpassed $5 billion in total value, but the competitive landscape is heavily tilted. XAUT's 60% market share makes Tether the de facto standard, with Paxos Gold (PAXG) as the primary competitor. Smaller players exist, but none have matched Tether's combination of physical reserves, exchange listings, and now corporate dividend integration.
That dominance carries both opportunity and risk. On the opportunity side, Ardoino's stated goal of reaching $5-10 billion in XAUT circulation by year-end 2026 looks increasingly achievable given the current growth trajectory. On the risk side, concentration in a single issuer means the tokenized gold market inherits the same counterparty questions that follow Tether's USDT, questions about audit transparency, reserve verification, and jurisdictional risk.
Tether publishes reserve attestations via independent verification, and the gold is stored in Swiss vaults compliant with London Good Delivery standards. But the gap between attestation and a full, Big Four audit remains a frequent criticism. For users considering XAUT as a long-term holding, the decision ultimately rests on trust in Tether's custodial and reporting practices.
FAQ
How much gold did 94 tonnes of XAUT represent in dollar terms? At gold's price of approximately $5,000 per troy ounce in February 2026, 94 metric tonnes equals roughly 3.02 million troy ounces, or approximately $15.1 billion in value.
What does it cost to transfer XAUT compared to physical gold? On-chain XAUT transfers cost standard blockchain gas fees, typically under $1 on Ethereum or fractions of a cent on Tron. Physical gold settlement involves armed transport, insurance (0.1-0.5% of value), assaying, and storage, often totaling 0.5-2% of the shipment's value.
Is XAUT backed by real physical gold? Yes. Each XAUT token represents one fine troy ounce of gold held in Swiss vaults that comply with London Good Delivery standards. Tether publishes regular reserve attestations confirming the 1:1 backing.
Can I spend XAUT with a crypto card? Not directly at this time. Most crypto cards support stablecoins like USDC and USDT as spending currencies. However, XAUT can be traded for stablecoins on major exchanges before loading onto a card, and some platforms may add direct gold-backed token support in the future.
Overview
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino's disclosure that 94 tonnes of XAUT, worth approximately $15.1 billion, transferred in six months for near-zero fees crystallizes the value proposition of tokenized gold in a single data point. Backed by 148 tonnes of physical reserves that rank Tether among the top 30 global gold holders, XAUT now commands 60% of the tokenized gold market and has crossed $4 billion in total value. With Elemental Royalty paying the first-ever corporate dividend in tokenized gold and Tether investing $150 million to expand retail distribution through Gold.com, the infrastructure for gold-as-digital-money is being built in real time. The question is no longer whether tokenized gold works at scale. Ardoino just showed that it does.
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