Tokenized Gold Nears $2B Market Cap as Tariff Fears Spark Safe Haven Trade

As risk assets including cryptocurrencies struggled on Thursday amid tariff uncertainties, tokenized gold once again emerged as an outperformer in the carnage.

The market capitalization of gold-backed tokens swelled to just under $2 billion on Wednesday, up 5.7% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data. The rise coincided with the yellow metal briefly touching a fresh all-time above $3,170/oz, TradingView shows.

Alongside the price rally, gold tokens experienced a frenzy of activity and demand over the past weeks, fueled by the broader market turmoil. Weekly tokenized gold trading volume surpassed $1 billion, the highest since the U.S. banking turmoil of March 2023, according to a report by digital asset platform CEX.IO.

The two largest tokens, Paxos Gold (PAXG), Tether Gold (XAUT), making up the bulk of the tokenized gold market, saw their weekly trading volumes surging over 900% and 300%, respectively, since January 20, according to the report citing CoinGecko data. PAXG also experienced continuous inflows totalling $63 million during this period, DefiLlama data shows.

The rally tracks the broader gains in physical gold, which posted double-digit increases in 2025 amid geopolitical uncertainty and inflation concerns. However, even gold wasn’t spared during the market-wide sell-off triggered by U.S. tariffs, with prices briefly dropping 6% before quickly recovering to record highs.

Since Trump’s inauguration, tokenized gold has been one of crypto’s top performing sectors, with its market cap up 21%, the report noted. By contrast, stablecoins gained a more modest 8% in market cap, while bitcoin declined 19% and the total crypto market lost 26%.

“Tokenized gold is emerging as one of the key diversification strategies among crypto-native users, alongside bitcoin,” wrote Alexandr Kerya, VP of product management at CEX.IO. “It provides a safer and more stable approach to portfolio management, enabling users to stay within the crypto ecosystem while benefiting from the value and stability of the underlying physical asset.”

“At the same time, the broader RWA narrative helps make gold exposure more accessible and intuitive for users who may not have considered it before,” Kerya added.

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