Tether says XAU₮ holdings rose 9.5% in Q2 even as gold prices fell

News Editor

2026-08-03 16:00:59

Tether said investor holdings of its tokenized gold product, Tether Gold (XAU₮), increased 9.5% in the second quarter of 2026, pointing to continued demand for on-chain gold exposure even during a price decline. The company said that, as of June 30, 2026, XAU₮ was fully backed 1:1 by physical gold, with reserves totaling 707,747.139 troy ounces, or about 22.01 metric tons, valued at roughly $2.837 billion. By the end of the quarter, 612,823.66 XAU₮ tokens had been sold, up from 559,598.64 at the end of the first quarter, an increase of 53,225.02 tokens. Tether said that equated to about 1.66 metric tons of additional physical gold exposure held by investors. The company also said the gold backing XAU₮ is stored in Swiss vaults, including 1,759 London Good Delivery bars and other bar formats. CEO Paolo Ardoino said investors kept buying the token during gold’s biggest quarterly drop in 13 years. Separately, Tether International SA de CV said it bought about 27.1 metric tons of gold in the first half of 2026, or roughly 4.5 tons a month.

According to BlockBeats, Tether said on Aug. 4 that investor holdings of its tokenized gold product, Tether Gold (XAU₮), rose 9.5% in the second quarter of 2026, a sign that demand for on-chain gold exposure remained firm.

XAU₮ added holders during a quarter of falling gold prices

Tether’s data showed that investors continued to accumulate XAU₮ even though gold prices fell 14.1% in the second quarter. The company said that suggests demand was not driven only by a rising gold market, with some investors using the pullback to increase their exposure to physical gold.

As of June 30, 2026, XAU₮ was fully backed 1:1 by physical gold, with reserves totaling 707,747.139 troy ounces, equal to about 22.01 metric tons and worth about $2.837 billion.

Token supply sold increased by 53,225.02 in the quarter

By the end of the second quarter, 612,823.66 XAU₮ tokens had been sold, up from 559,598.64 at the end of the first quarter. That was an increase of 53,225.02 tokens, corresponding to about 1.66 metric tons of additional physical gold exposure held by investors and client holdings growth of about 9.5%.

Tether said the gold reserves backing XAU₮ remained unchanged throughout the quarter and that every token was backed by at least 1 troy ounce of physical gold.

Gold reserves are stored in Swiss vaults

The underlying gold is stored in Swiss vaults, including 1,759 London Good Delivery bars as well as bars in other formats.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said gold recorded its largest quarterly decline in 13 years during the second quarter, yet investors continued buying XAU₮. He said that points to tokenized gold becoming a new way for investors to allocate to physical gold.

Tether bought about 27.1 metric tons of gold in the first half

Separately, data from Tether International SA de CV showed the company bought about 27.1 metric tons of gold in the first half of 2026, averaging roughly 4.5 tons per month. If counted alongside central bank gold buying by country, its holdings of about 150 tons would rank third globally for gold accumulation during the same period, behind only Poland and China.

This article was originally published by Bit.Fan. For more cryptocurrency news and market insights, visit www.bit.fan.

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