Tether publishes first XAU₮ audit and El Salvador regulation for tokenized gold market

Tether has officially released its first attestation for Tether Gold (XAU₮) for the first quarter of 2025. The report came after the product became regulated in El Salvador and covered other developments for the gold-backed stablecoin. 

According to the report released on April 28, 2025, Tether Gold (XAU₮) retains its position as the highest market cap tokenized gold product in the market.

Each XAU₮ token is reportedly backed 1:1 by one troy ounce of physical gold, which is securely stored in a dedicated vault within world-class facilities in Switzerland. The current market capitalization is $770.0 million, and the all-time high price was $3,423 as of April 21, 2025, up 9.6% from the end of Q1/25.

XAU₮ became popular due to economic uncertainty

According to the report, Tether Gold’s growth during Q1 can be attributed to escalating global economic uncertainty, heightened geopolitical tensions, and a rising demand for inflation-resistant stores of value.

There was a sustained surge in market cap because investors have been worried about new international trade tariffs, further validating gold’s role as a hedge in volatile markets.

The attestation puts more importance on the quantity of inventory reflected in the report than the price, which remains subject to volatility.

It also pointed out that another reason for gold’s rally over the past two years is the persistent central bank accumulation, particularly from BRICS nations, which have been seeking to reduce their US dollar dependency.

Tether’s USD₮ and XAU₮ launch on The Open Network (TON)

The attestation report released by Tether Gold (XAU₮) comes days after the firm announced that both its dollar-backed and gold-backed stablecoins have now been integrated on The Open Network (TON).

The development means Tether’s products are now available on over 15 blockchains, including Algorand, Avalanche, Celo, Ethereum, EOS, Liquid Network, Near, Polygon, Solana, Bitcoin Cash’s Standard Ledger Protocol, Statemint, Tezos, and Tron.

Paolo Ardoino, CEO at Tether, expressed enthusiasm about the launch.

“We’re excited to bring USD₮ and XAU₮ to The Open Network because we support its vision of an open and decentralized internet and a borderless financial system,” he said, adding that this furthers the company’s mission of “powering open financial infrastructure across the blockchain space.”

This announcement further solidifies USD₮’s position as the most widely adopted stablecoin and XAU₮ as a stable alternative to the real asset.

Ardoino called XAU₮ an opportunity for users to access the security of physical gold in its digital form, backed 1:1 by fully secure gold reserves.

However, while Tether claims full gold backing and transparency, there have been controversies in the past surrounding its USDT stablecoin audits. Similarly, some netizens are skeptical about XAU₮’s auditability.

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