Gold prices are expected to continue rising to $3900 per ounce. Here are the top 5 gold tokens

2025-09-05 08:30:00

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The World Gold Council's version of "digital gold" is on the way and may reshape the traditional physical market.

Author: Wenser

On September 2, spot gold rose over 1% during the day, breaking through $3510 per ounce, reaching a high of $3512.27 per ounce, setting a new historical record; on the morning of the 3rd, spot gold surged over $10 in a short time, reporting a high of $3547 per ounce, again hitting a new high. Surprisingly, there are reports that the World Gold Council is seeking to launch "digital gold," which could change the $900 billion physical gold market in London. Odaily Planet Daily will summarize recent trends in gold prices, industry dynamics, mainstream gold tokenization projects, and other information for readers' reference.

Gold Resumes Its Upward Trend, Analysts Predict Gold Prices May Rise to $3900 per Ounce

On September 1, spot gold stood at $3470 per ounce, continuing to set new highs since April 22 of this year, with a daily increase of 0.67%.

Subsequently, in just 2 days, gold prices quickly broke above $3500 and gradually stabilized, leading to a highly bullish outlook within the industry regarding the future direction of gold prices.

Analysts: Gold Prices Expected to Reach $3600-$3900 Range in the Coming Months

Philip Nova analyst Priyanka Sachdeva stated in a report that if spot gold prices continue to break above $3500, gold prices may reach the range of $3600 - $3900 per ounce in the coming months. She mentioned that the aggressive tariff stance of the U.S. has increased geopolitical risks, fueling safe-haven investments. She noted that factors such as expectations of interest rate cuts, political turmoil, and strong ETF demand have transformed gold from a tactical hedge into a strategic essential asset for many investors. Sachdeva believes that the target of $3800 per ounce may be the first clear psychological barrier for gold prices to break through the current high.

Financial Times: World Gold Council Plans to Launch "Digital Gold"

According to a report by the Financial Times reported, the World Gold Council (WGC) is seeking to launch a digital form of gold, which could create a new way of trading, settling, and collateralizing gold, fundamentally changing the $900 billion physical gold market in London.

WGC CEO David Tait stated in an interview that this new form will make it possible for "gold to be used as collateral, transmitted digitally for the first time in the gold ecosystem." Although many investors value gold for its physical nature and lack of counterparty risk, viewing it as a safe-haven asset, Tait believes that gold must be digitized to expand its market coverage. Tait said, "We are trying to establish a standardized digital layer for gold so that various financial products used in other markets can also be applied to the gold market. My goal is to have asset managers around the world reassess gold."

This move is seen as a change by the World Gold Council to respond to the new financial investment environment—despite gold previously being viewed as a safe-haven asset due to its physical properties and lack of counterparty risk, many banks and investors see gold as an illiquid and non-yielding asset. As Tait stated, "From the perspective of collateral, banks can earn huge profits—because they have the opportunity to use gold on their balance sheets as collateral."

It is understood that the plan is mainly driven by a new digital sector called "pooled gold interests (PGIs)," which will allow banks and investors to buy and sell partial ownership of physical gold stored in independent accounts. In Q1 2026, commercial institutions in London will participate in a pilot of this model.

Currently, trading in the London gold market is divided into "allocated gold" trading (involving specific gold bars) and "unallocated gold" trading (only specifying the quantity of gold without designating specific bars), and the emergence of "digital gold" may add a third type of trading to the London over-the-counter gold market.

Market Status: Market Cap of Gold Tokenization Projects Less Than 1% of Gold ETF Market Cap

According to Coingecko data, the overall market cap of tokenized gold is currently around $2.6 billion, compared to the gold ETF market, which has a market cap of $400 billion, making the former less than 1% of the latter. In comparison, the gold tokenization market is still in its early stages with huge development potential. Below are specific introductions to gold tokenization projects:

XAUT: Backed by Tether, Market Cap $1.32 Billion

According to on-chain data, Tether minted 129,000 XAUT on Ethereum in early August, currently valued at about $455 million, bringing its market cap to $1.32 billion.

Previously, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino disclosed that if Tether were considered a "country," it would rank in the top 40 for physical gold holdings; in July, Tether released an XAUT audit report stating that at that time, the circulating supply of XAUT tokens was 246,524,330 (now grown to about 375,572), with the circulating XAUT tokens backed by over 7.66 tons of physical gold.

PAXG: Backed by Paxos, Market Cap Approximately $1 Billion

PAXG was launched by the U.S. stablecoin company Paxos, and its market cap has surged to a record over $1 billion in the past three months. Since June, the token has seen continuous net inflows, with a single month inflow reaching as high as $141.5 million. The current circulating supply of the token is 282,566.

KAU: Backed by Kinesis & ABX, Market Cap Approximately $160 Million

KAU was launched by the British digital asset utility platform Kinesis registered in the Cayman Islands, with each KAU linked to 1 gram of investment-grade gold stored in Kinesis vaults. Unlike other gold tokens, KAU supports purchasing, trading, consuming, and transferring. In addition to supporting redemptions, users holding assets on the Kinesis platform can also earn monthly income through redistributed trading fee revenue; spending KAU on the Kinesis virtual card also generates income, as the card allows for real-time, instant conversion to purchase gold, silver, and cryptocurrencies at over 80 million locations worldwide.

XAUm: Backed by Matrixport, Market Cap Approximately $47 Million

In early August, Matrixport announced the official launch of XAUm fixed income products, supporting a wide range of investment periods from 7 to 365 days, and supporting 15 mainstream assets including BTC, ETH, SOL, BNB, and USDT. Additionally, the Matrixport platform supports XAUm Mint, Swap, and XAUm collateral lending; this token is issued by Matrixport's RWA tokenization platform Matrixdock, which completed its second annual 100% gold reserve audit last month, with its gold management scale increasing by 500% in six months.

VRO: Backed by VeraOne, Market Cap Approximately $41 Million

VRO was launched by VeraOne based in London, UK, and the project was co-founded by the AuCOFFRE.com group and cryptocurrency industry figure Owen Simonin, initially established in 2019. The token price is currently around $113, with relatively limited liquidity.

Below is the basic information of the main projects (compiled from @Grok):

Conclusion: The Safe-Haven and Tax Benefits of Gold

It is worth mentioning that the recent surge in gold prices is not unrelated to the performance of the U.S. dollar and U.S. Treasury bonds. Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, recently stated that: the poor debt situation of the dollar has indirectly driven up gold prices; international investors have begun to shift from U.S. Treasury bonds to gold. Former U.S. President Trump stated in August that "gold will not be taxed."

Now, gold tokens, which possess both the safe-haven attributes and tax benefits of gold, may become an investment choice for more and more people.

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