Tokenized gold market grows as Tether Gold and Paxos Gold climb toward $4.5 billion combined

The market for tokenized gold is expanding steadily, with the two dominant issuers, @tethergold and @PaxosGold, pushing their combined on-chain value toward $4.5 billion. According to data from rwa.xyz, total tokenized commodity value across tracked networks reached $4.92 billion, a gain of 7.7% over 30 days, with gold representing roughly $4.8 billion of the underlying exposure.

Tether Gold Leads, Paxos Closes the Gap

@tethergold sits at the top of the issuer rankings with $2.6 billion in tokenized value, up 8.9% over the past month. @PaxosGold follows at $1.9 billion. The pair have long dominated the space. Tether Gold (XAUT) and Paxos Gold (PAXG) accounted for nearly 89.1% of the tokenized commodity market's growth over the past year, according to CoinGecko data. The two products are structurally similar: each XAUT and PAXG token is backed by one fine troy ounce of physical gold stored in LBMA-certified vaults. Where they differ is on the regulatory side. PAXG is aligned with compliance-focused investors, issued by Paxos Trust Company and overseen by the New York State Department of Financial Services, with monthly third-party audits and fully allocated gold reserves held in LBMA-approved vaults. XAUT, by contrast, operates with greater flexibility but without the same level of formal regulatory oversight.

The momentum behind both products reflects a broader shift in investor behavior. Tokenized precious metals saw strong demand, particularly for gold, and much of this growth occurred in January and February 2026 as geopolitical tensions led investors to seek safe-haven assets. Growth in this category reflects both price appreciation of the underlying commodity and net new capital inflows from investors seeking gold exposure through blockchain rails rather than traditional ETF or physical ownership structures.

Ethereum Dominates by Network, XRP Ledger Second

On a network basis, Ethereum hosts $4.7 billion in tokenized commodity value across all tracked assets, making it by far the largest settlement layer for on-chain gold. The XRP Ledger ranks second with $2.5 billion. Ethereum wallet data show a spike in addresses created specifically to hold tokenized assets throughout late 2025 and early 2026, a sign that new participants are entering the market with RWA exposure as their primary objective.

The broader tokenized real-world asset market provides further context for gold's rise. Tokenized commodities rose from $1.4 billion to $5.5 billion, driven mostly by gold-backed tokens XAUT and PAXG, while spot trading on tokenized gold reached $90.7 billion in Q1 2026, surpassing the $84.6 billion traded for the entire year of 2025. That volume figure underscores how quickly institutional and retail appetite for on-chain gold has accelerated.

Sources:
CoinGecko RWA Report 2026
Crypto Times: Tokenized Gold Trading Hits Record $90.7B in 2026
Chainalysis: Tokenized RWAs and On-Chain Commodities