As traditional assets such as gold and U.S. Treasuries move onto blockchains, real-world asset tokenization is entering a new phase. The question is no longer only which assets can be tokenized. It is also how their underlying value can remain credible and continue to function inside on-chain finance after tokenization.
For physical assets such as gold and silver, tokenization does not remove storage, custody, or audit costs. Product design still has to answer two practical issues: how to preserve trust in the underlying asset and how to reflect the cost of holding that asset in the token itself.
Matrixdock, the RWA tokenization platform under BIT, formerly Matrixport, has put forward one example through XAGm, its tokenized silver product. By introducing the Fungible Reserve Standard, or FRS, Matrixdock folds the holding cost of physical silver into a programmable token mechanism. Seen alongside its short-term U.S. Treasury product STBT and gold token XAUm, XAGm is part of a wider effort to bring different types of real-world assets into on-chain finance.
How XAGm handles the ongoing cost of holding silver
In traditional finance, gold and silver are both precious metals, but they serve different economic roles. Gold has long been used as a store of value and for portfolio allocation. Silver also has an investment function, but it is widely used in electronics manufacturing, renewable energy, and industrial production, leaving it exposed to both investment demand and industrial consumption.
In March 2026, Matrixdock formally launched XAGm. The token is backed by physical silver that meets the London Bullion Market Association, or LBMA, Good Delivery standard and is held in institutional-grade vaults. At issuance, each XAGm token represented one troy ounce of physical silver, giving on-chain markets another precious-metal asset supported by physical reserves.
Silver tokenization brings a specific challenge beyond reserve backing. Because silver has a lower unit value, the same notional value usually requires more physical weight and volume to be stored. That makes storage and custody an ongoing design consideration.
Matrixdock’s FRS framework was built around that issue. It uses an ozPerToken parameter to record how much physical silver each XAGm token represents, then adjusts that parameter according to preset rules so that the continuing cost of holding the underlying asset is reflected in the token’s operating model.
For XAGm, ozPerToken starts at 1 and declines daily based on a 0.3% annualized custody fee. In practice, that means the number of XAGm tokens in a holder’s wallet does not fall as fees accrue. Instead, the amount of silver represented by each token changes over time. Through the mathematical relationship between ozPerToken and token supply, FRS is designed so that the total amount of silver represented on-chain remains aligned with the underlying physical reserve.
The structure turns the holding cost of a real-world asset into a predefined and calculable on-chain rule, while preserving fungibility and DeFi composability. In that sense, the model is not only about incorporating silver’s carrying cost into a token. It also shows how token design can be adapted to the economic characteristics of different underlying assets.
Reserve verification and transparency
For tokens backed by physical assets, on-chain records can show issuance and circulation, but they cannot by themselves prove that the underlying reserves exist or that they are sufficient. That still depends on professional custody and independent verification.
In July 2026, Matrixdock completed its fourth consecutive semiannual independent reserve audit and included XAGm for the first time. The audit was conducted by Bureau Veritas and covered 574 gold and silver bars, including 66 silver bars totaling 65,934 troy ounces of silver.
The audit confirmed that, using the applicable ozPerToken value, the silver reserves backing XAGm matched the circulating token supply. Beyond the semiannual audit, Matrixdock also uses reserve disclosures and related verification mechanisms to improve transparency for physically backed tokens. Together, those measures form part of the trust framework needed for physical assets to operate in on-chain finance.
From that perspective, trust in RWA products does not come from putting an asset on-chain alone. It also depends on custody, ongoing disclosure, and independent verification.
Beyond precious metals
Issuance mechanics and reserve transparency are only part of the picture. Another key issue for RWA products is whether they can be used across a wider set of on-chain financial applications.
In May 2026, Matrixdock said it was extending XAGm to the Sui network. Built on top of its Ethereum deployment, that move broadened the on-chain environment for tokenized silver and opened room to explore use cases in trading, collateral, and other DeFi scenarios.
Placed in the context of Matrixdock’s broader product lineup, XAGm is about more than silver alone. From STBT, a tokenized short-term U.S. Treasury product, to XAUm, which is backed by physical gold, and then XAGm, which uses FRS for silver, Matrixdock has been bringing on-chain a set of real-world assets with different economic characteristics. Those assets differ in risk-return profile, reserve arrangement, and operating mechanism, which means a tokenization platform has to tailor product structures to each one.
Matrixdock describes that long-term direction as building a Reserve Layer for on-chain finance. The idea is to introduce real-world assets with transparent reserves and verifiable mechanisms so they can serve as base assets for on-chain trading, collateral, and other financial applications.
The next stage of RWA competition
Viewed through XAGm, Matrixdock’s strategy is not simply about adding silver after gold. It reflects an attempt to design tokenization mechanisms around the specific features of different assets. As the RWA market develops, the range of assets needed in on-chain finance is likely to become more diverse, and each new asset will test a platform’s ability in asset selection, product structuring, risk management, and on-chain integration.
As more real-world assets enter blockchain networks, the focus of the RWA market is shifting from issuance alone toward asset quality, reserve transparency, operating design, and practical utility. For tokenization platforms, future competition may depend less on how many tokens they issue and more on whether they can build the right product structure, verification framework, and on-chain use cases for each asset class.
From gold to silver, Matrixdock’s RWA buildout is still expanding. Based on the article, the company is adding asset categories, refining token mechanisms, and extending on-chain applications as it works toward a more diversified Reserve Layer ecosystem.