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Kinesis Gold (KAU): A Gold Token Worth One Gram, With Fee Sharing
Kinesis’s gold token, tied to one gram of metal
Kinesis Gold (KAU) is a token from the gold-and-silver platform Kinesis, each standing for one gram of investment-grade gold. It exists on Kinesis’s own blockchain and as an Ethereum version.
1. A token tied to one gram of gold
Kinesis Gold (KAU) comes from Kinesis, a gold-and-silver trading and payments platform founded in 2018. Each token stands for one gram of investment-grade gold, and its partner Kinesis Silver (KAG) for one troy ounce of silver. Kinesis says the metal sits in insured vaults of outside custodians such as Brink’s and Loomis.
The original token lives on Kinesis’s own blockchain, a Stellar fork, while the Ethereum version is an ERC-20 token (Ethereum’s standard token format) issued by a Panama company, KMS Labs, as a 1:1 claim on reserved original KAU. On the Crypto Nation map, KAU stands in Ethereum City, because the listed version is the Ethereum one.
2. Allocated storage and fee sharing
Kinesis says that when someone buys KAU, the matching gold is set aside in that buyer’s name in ‘allocated’ storage, not pooled and only partly held. Holding, trading, spending or sending tokens generates fees, which feed Kinesis’s unusual revenue-sharing design.
Kinesis says much of the fee income goes back to users, and holders who keep metal on the platform get a monthly yield paid in KAU. The yield varies with fee income and is not a fixed rate. Redeeming the Ethereum version for original KAU or physical gold requires accepting the issuer’s terms and identity checks.
3. Uses and milestones
The basic use of KAU is buying and storing gold in one-gram pieces. Users want gold-linked value they can send or spend digitally. Running a gold token and a silver token as a pair has been Kinesis’s setup since its founding in 2018.
The Ethereum version works in Ethereum wallets and exchanges. Other gold tokens exist, such as Paxos’s PAXG and Tether Gold (XAUT), with different custody and fee structures. Kinesis says outside audit reports check its holdings, and one public report is dated October 2025.
4. Things to know
KAU follows the gold price, so it falls when gold falls. Whether the gold is really in the vaults cannot be seen on the blockchain; holders trust the issuer, custodians and audit reports. Some analysts questioned the dating and sampling of early audits. That was not shown to mean missing gold, but it is a reason to watch whether audits arrive on time.
Original KAU’s issuer is based in the Cayman Islands and the Ethereum version’s in Panama, so companies in several countries are involved and user protections may differ. Availability depends on regional rules, so check access and taxes where you live. The monthly yield depends on fee income and is not guaranteed.
Written from information public up to October 2026. It does not recommend or rate any coin and is not investment advice. If something is wrong, please tell us through the contact page.