TL;DR
- Tether Gold (XAUT) recorded a 9.5% increase in holdings during the second quarter of 2026, despite a 14.1% drop in the price of gold.
- At the close of Q2, 612,823.66 tokens were sold, backed by physical reserves of 707,747 fine troy ounces equivalent to 22.01 metric tons.
- The total market value of XAUT reached approximately $2.837 billion, consolidating it as the largest tokenized gold product in the world.
Tether Gold (XAUT), the world’s largest tokenized gold product by market capitalization, closed the second quarter of 2026 with a 9.5% growth in client holdings, despite the fact that the price of the precious metal fell 14.1% during that period. The data were published by TG Commodities, S.A. de C.V., the issuing entity registered under El Salvador’s Digital Asset Issuance Law.
Gold closed the quarter at $4,008.02 per ounce, holding above $4,000 amid pressure from a stronger U.S. dollar and an adjustment in inflation expectations relative to first-quarter highs. In that adverse environment for the metal’s price, token holders not only maintained their positions, but added more than 53,225 additional tokens to their portfolios, bringing the total sold to 612,823.66 XAUT.
XAUT: Countercyclical Accumulation
The physical reserves backing XAUT remained unchanged throughout the quarter at 707,747.139 fine troy ounces, equivalent to 22.01 metric tons. The backing is maintained at all times at a 1:1 ratio, with at least one fine troy ounce of physical gold for each token in circulation. Those reserves are stored in Switzerland in the form of 1,759 London Good Delivery bars of approximately 12.5 kilograms each, complemented by smaller denomination bars.
Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, described the quarter as “a clear test of underlying demand” for XAUT and noted that gold’s sharpest correction in 13 years did not slow accumulation by holders. Ardoino highlighted that buyers used the price drop as an opportunity to increase their exposure to gold through a product that is fully backed, transparent, portable and accessible on-chain.
Separately, Tether International SA de CV acquired approximately 27.1 metric tons of gold during the first half of 2026, at an average of 4.5 metric tons per month. With nearly 150 metric tons accumulated, the company would rank third globally for the period if included alongside central banks in country rankings, behind Poland and China.
