Bitcoin has long been considered the ultimate store of value. But a new generation of tokenized gold projects makes a compelling case based on centuries of financial history.
As gold prices soar and the market capitalization of blockchain-based gold tokens exceeds $3 billion, the debate over what truly qualifies as “digital gold” is heating up.
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Bitcoin once again faces its oldest rival as gold goes on-chain
Recent developments suggest that the tokenization of physical gold is no longer a theoretical experiment, but is rapidly becoming a reality for emerging markets.
In April, Kinka, a subsidiary of publicly traded Japanese fintech company UNBANKED, officially issued gold-backed physical tokens on the Cardano blockchain using EMURGO’s tokenization engine.
Meanwhile, BioSig Technologies and Streamex Exchange Corporation closed $1.1 billion in funding to launch a gold-backed financial management platform on Solana in July. The initiative, led by Cantor Fitzgerald, Needham & Company, and CIBC, aims to bring the $142 trillion commodity market on-chain.
The momentum will exceed these. Tether and Antalfa are reportedly raising $200 million to create a digital asset vault centered around Tether Gold (XAUT), backed by bullion stored in a Swiss vault.
At the same time, SmartGold partnered with Chintai Nexus to tokenize up to $1.6 billion worth of gold from American investors’ retirement accounts, allowing holders to earn DeFi yield without losing their tax-deferred status.
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“Digital gold” debate reignites
The rising wave of tokenized gold is reigniting the Bitcoin vs. Gold debate, a long-standing philosophical and economic conflict.
According to economist Peter Schiff, a vocal critic of Bitcoin, tokenized gold will always beat Bitcoin and eliminate the need for a USD stablecoin.
But Bitcoin supporters think differently. On-chain analyst Willy Wu pointed out that gold tokens such as XAUT have increased by $1.25 billion since its launch, while Bitcoin’s value has increased by $2.2 trillion over the same period.
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Still, other experts remain divided. Garrett Goggin, founder of Golden Portfolio, calls tokenized gold “the ultimate currency.” Goggin bases this stance on tokenized gold’s unique combination of gold’s store-of-value power and crypto’s digital programmability.
“Tokenized gold is cool, but it requires a custodian, so there will always be counterparty risk. Eliminating Bitcoin’s counterparty risk was the whole innovation. We should know this by now,” demurred Eric Voorhees, founder of Venice AI.
Similarly, Vijay Boyapati dismissed tokenized gold as a repackaging of the same problem: central control.
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Ethereum and Tether will benefit the most
Despite the philosophical divide, the market is rewarding the tokenization trend. According to data from CoinGecko, $2.7 billion worth of tokenized gold currently resides on Ethereum, making Ethereum the primary beneficiary of the blockchain.
Tether Gold (XAUT) remains the most liquid and reputable tokenized gold asset in the world. The company’s market capitalization exceeds $1.5 billion, and its price has risen almost 12% in the last month.
Tokenized gold and Bitcoin coexist, one rooted in physical scarcity and the other in digital authenticity. But as global demand for hard assets increases, the question of what truly deserves the title of “digital gold” is steadily moving from debate to data.
