Coin columns · Ethereum City (Capital)
Tether Gold (XAUT): A Token for an Ounce of Gold in a Swiss Vault
Tether’s gold token tracks the gold price, not the dollar
Tether Gold (XAUT) is a gold token launched in January 2020 by Tether, the company behind the USDT stablecoin. Each token is designed to represent ownership of one troy ounce (about 31.1 grams) of physical gold held in a Swiss vault.
1. Tether’s ‘digital gold certificate’
XAUT is issued by TG Commodities, Tether’s gold arm. Tether is best known for the dollar-pegged USDT, and XAUT extends the same idea, a real-world asset that can move on a blockchain, to gold. The aim is to let people pass ownership of gold between wallets without moving bars.
Unlike a stablecoin, XAUT is not tied to one dollar; it follows the market price of an ounce of gold. It is therefore classed as a tokenised commodity, a real-world asset (RWA) brought on-chain. Its closest peer is PAX Gold (PAXG), issued by the US company Paxos.
2. How bars and tokens are linked
According to Tether, XAUT is backed by gold bars that meet the London Good Delivery standard, stored in a vault in Switzerland. Holders can look up on Tether’s website which bar, by serial number, is allocated to their address. Tokens are divisible, so amounts far smaller than a bar can be sent.
Redeeming for physical gold requires Tether’s identity checks (KYC) and works in whole bars delivered to an address in Switzerland, so small holders rarely take delivery. Most holders instead sell on an exchange or redeem through Tether for cash. New XAUT is minted as gold comes in and burned when it is redeemed.
3. Chains and DeFi uses
XAUT was first issued as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum and also exists on TRON. In 2025 an omnichain version, XAUT0, built with LayerZero technology, brought it to other networks such as TON. On the Crypto Nation map, XAUT stands in Ethereum City (the capital), because it was first issued on Ethereum.
People use XAUT to trade gold exposure at night and on weekends, or to post it as collateral in DeFi and borrow stablecoins against it. In 2025 Tether also introduced Alloy, a dollar-linked token collateralised by XAUT.
4. Things to know: trust in the issuer
XAUT is only as good as the belief that Tether really holds the gold safely. Tether publishes attestation reports on its holdings, but these are narrower than a full audit by a major accounting firm, and questions about transparency persist. The reliability of the vault and logistics firms matters too.
XAUT is a centralised token, and Tether can freeze tokens at specific addresses, for example at the request of law enforcement. The gold price itself can swing widely, and changes in law or regulation where the issuer operates could alter minting and redemption terms. Physical redemption also involves fees and paperwork.
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.