Tether’s gold-backed stablecoin, Tether Gold (XAUT), reached a $770 million market capitalization as of April 28, according to the company's first attestation under El Salvador’s financial regulations. "While central banks are stacking up hundreds of tons of gold, XAUt is set to become the standard tokenized gold product for the people and institutions," Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino posted on X. The token is backed 1:1 by 246,523.33 ounces — over 7.7 tons — of physical gold stored in a dedicated Swiss vault, said Tether.Each XAUT token represents one troy ounce of LBMA-certified gold. Tether said it applies strict controls, including gold bar verification and periodic audits, to maintain trust in the token’s backing. The attestation comes at a time when global investors are increasingly turning to gold as a hedge against economic instability and rising geopolitical risks. Central banks, particularly across BRICS nations, have been buying gold at record levels, accumulating over 1,044 metric tons in 2024 alone, according to the World Gold Council.The yellow metal has touched numerous record highs in 2025 amid an ongoing rally that's seen its price gain about 27% year-to-date. It's currently trading at $3,343 per ounce, having more than doubled since November 2022. Tether emphasized that unlike other tokenized gold products, XAUT is physically backed and regulated, positioning it as a safer option for users wary of "paper gold" exposure.Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.

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