Tether buys 27 tons of gold, but its tokenized market share slips – Why?

Tether continued its gold buying spree in late 2025, driven by macro uncertainty and growing demand for safe‑haven assets. According to its latest transparency report, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer purchased 27 metric tons of gold in Q4 2025.

This was nearly the same amount of gold as it acquired in Q3, 2025. In fact, its 2025 buying spree rivaled demand from central banks, as the metal crossed new highs and broke key psychological levels. 

In 2025, gold posted a 64% gain and is up another 17% so far in 2026, crossing the $5000 mark for the first time. 

Source: Gold price, TradingView 

This explosive run has also driven retail demand for tokenized gold, with the Tether gold [XAUT] market supply growing over 3x from $600 million to $ 1.8 billion by the end of 2025. 

In early 2026, Tether Gold’s market cap rose to $2.24 billion, up 26% in January alone, further underscoring investors’ interest in the tokenized gold. The firm’s aggressive demand for gold is used to back issued XAUT tokens on a 1:1 basis, the report noted.  

Commenting on the report, Tether’s CEO Paolo Ardoino said,

“Through Tether Gold, we are operating at a scale that now places the Tether Gold Investment Fund alongside sovereign gold holders, and that carries real responsibility.”

Ardoino added that XAUT exists to ‘remove ambiguity’ as confidence in monetary systems weakens and is put to a stress test by institutions and people. 

Tether’s share in tokenized gold market drops

That said, the tokenized gold boom has also seen Tether’s market share trimmed by nearly 10%. According to CoinGecko data, Tether gold held nearly 60% market dominance as of November 2026. 

However, in early 2026, Tether Gold’s market share had dropped to 50% ($2.6 billion), while Pax Gold, the second-largest tokenized gold, had a 40% market share. 

Source: CoinGecko

Kinesis Gold appeared to be the rising star that has eaten into most of the market share. Its dominance rose from zero in November to nearly 8% as of early 2026. 

Meanwhile, the tokenized gold market has surpassed $5.2 billion and could grow further if geopolitical tensions and macro uncertainty drive physical gold prices higher.

Final Thoughts

• Tether added 27 tons of gold in Q4 2025, nearly the same amount bought in Q3, as the commodity extends its bull run into 2026. 
• However, Tether Gold has lost 10% of its market share amid the tokenized gold boom