- Tokenized gold saw 177% growth in market capitalization in 2025, accounting for 25% of all net RWA growth and expanding 2.6 times faster than physical gold.
- Tokenized gold volume increased 345% in the fourth quarter, surpassing $126 billion and surpassing the combined volume of five major gold ETFs.
- The top three tokenized gold assets control 97% of the total market capitalization, while the top four account for 99% of the total trading volume.
In a year where most of DeFi struggled to recover, showing a 2% With the overall increase in TVL, real-world assets have quietly become the most prominent players in cryptocurrencies. In 2025, the total value locked of RWA increased by approximately 184%, growing more than 6 times larger that lending platforms and 9 times faster than TVL bridges. In other words, a significant portion of DeFi’s net growth came from RWAs.
And within RWAs, one category stood out more than any other: tokenized gold.
25% of RWA growth comes from tokenized gold
RWAs now encompass everything from tokenized bonds, stocks and commodities, and some of these categories saw explosive growth in 2025, driven largely by institutional adoption or low initial bases. However, among the large categories of RWA, tokenized gold showed one of the strongest combinations of scale and growthregistering a 177% increase in market capitalization and 198% increase in the total number of holders in 2025.
In 2025, the market capitalization of tokenized gold increased almost $2.8 billion in net worth, passing from 1.6 billion dollars to 4.4 billion dollars in market capitalization. This means the sector absorbed almost a quarter of all net RWA growth over the past 12 months, while absolute inflows exceeded those of tokenized stocks, corporate bonds and non-US Treasuries combined.
In turn, the number of holders of tokenized gold grew by more than 115,000 in one year14 times faster than in 2024. Compared to other major RWA segments, tokenized gold added more holders than tokenized US Treasuries and other tokenized bonds. This is because tokenized gold is well positioned as a category that can scale significantly across both institutional and retail audiences.
Unlike some tokenized assets, it is not limited to accredited investors only, has no minimum investment threshold, and offers fractional ownership, allowing investors of all sizes, from institutions to individuals with very small capital, to easily gain exposure by simply purchasing a token.
If tokenized gold were an ETF, it would already be a giant
Market capitalization dynamics
One could argue that such explosive growth in tokenized gold simply reflects the fact that gold prices saw its biggest increase in 46 years. However, while demand for gold has increased across the board, another reason why tokenized gold stands out compared to other RWA categories is its adoption and positioning relative to its traditional counterparts.
The total market value of physical gold. surpassed $30 trillion, up more than 67% by 2025. At the same time, major gold ETFs saw substantial inflows, doubling total assets under management, as investors sought inflation hedges and geopolitical protection. However, even in this context, tokenized gold has become an outlier.
Tokenized gold expanded 2.6 times faster than physical goldand outperformed most of the top 7 spot gold ETFs. The only major gold ETF to outperform tokenized gold was iShares Gold Trust Micro (IAUM), recording a more than 300% increase in total holdings this year.
Overall, considering scale, tokenized gold would have already been the sixth largest gold ETF by market cap and one of the most popular ways to gain exposure to gold.
Trading volume dynamics
If market capitalization tells one story, trading volume tells an even more surprising one. Tokenized gold trading activity accelerated dramatically throughout 2025, with volumes increasing quarter over quarter. In the fourth quarter, quarterly trading volume increased to more than $126 billioneclipsing previous periods.
To put it in perspective, tokenized gold saw slightly higher trading volume in the fourth quarter than top five gold ETFs combined. Only the largest gold ETF, SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), stands out, with a $375 billion in trading volume in the fourth quarter.
Taking the full year into account, tokenized gold reached $178 billion in trading volume in 2025. Compared to gold ETFs, this would place tokenized gold as the Second largest gold investment product in the world by trading volume.ahead of all ETFs except GLD, underscoring its rapid emergence as a major liquidity venue.
The growth was also much more dynamic than that of traditional gold ETFs. In 2025, trading volume in tokenized gold increased by more than 1,550% compared to 2024, almost ten times faster than the growth seen in the largest gold ETFs, which mainly recorded gains in the 100-150% range. Such a massive expansion highlights a structural shift in which incremental liquidity from gold trading is increasingly being formed on-chain rather than in traditional commodities.
Major market shift towards XAUT
Such explosive growth in business activity did not occur uniformly across the sector. The fourth quarter increase was largely driven by Tether Gold (XAUT), which accounted for 75% of total trading volumeabruptly from 27% in the third quarter. The increase followed XAUT’s third-quarter reserves certification, echoing previous episodes in which transparency updates coincided with sharp increases in activity.
While XAUT dominated the latest volume expansion, the broader picture remained largely unchanged, with almost 99% of tokenized gold trading volume is still concentrated in a handful of assets.
The market cap distribution shows similar patterns, with rotation at the top but little change in the overall market structure. Throughout 2025, XAUT expanded its share of the tokenized gold market capitalization of 41.1% to 52.4%, largely at the expense of smaller tokenized gold projects and tokens with increasingly disputed or unverified market capitalization. However, the three largest assets, XAUT, PAXG and KAU, They still account for roughly 97% of the total tokenized gold market capitalization, underscoring how concentrated the sector is becoming despite the emergence of new entrants in 2025.
Beyond the established leaders, 2025 also saw selective but significant adoption among newer products. One of the biggest success stories was Matrixdock Gold (XAUM), which saw an increase of over 1,000% in its market capitalization and a increase in headline base from less than 1,000 to more than 65,000 wallets by 2025. The latter was largely driven by XAUM’s integration with the Plume ecosystem.
Tokenized Gold Plugins, Don’t Compete With Stablecoins
Considering gold’s status as a safe haven asset, one could assume that tokenized gold can act as a potential substitute for stablecoins or Bitcoin, especially during market downturns. However, it rather serves as a tactical hedge for traders, or a sort of “middle ground” between risky cryptocurrency trading and riskless stablecoin exits.
The October 2025 trading patterns perfectly illustrate this dynamic. From October 10 to 11, the cryptocurrency market experienced the largest liquidation event in its history, which caused an increase in the volume of BTC and USDT, with the subsequent decrease. In turn, the middle of the month saw a daily increase in tokenized gold volume from $537 million to $1.88 billion (an increase of 250%), as the price of Bitcoin decreased from $122,000 to $106,000.
This inverse correlation indicates an intentional rotation of capital into tokenized gold as a hedge. In late October, as Bitcoin stabilized, tokenized gold volume normalized and continued to follow trends in the broader crypto market, confirming its role as a defensive alternative.
Scale matters: tokenized gold represents approx. 1% of Bitcoin and USDT volumes, versus less than 0.1% in January 2025. While this 10x growth trajectory shows increasing adoption, tokenized gold remains a specialized tool rather than a market-moving force. During panic events, USDT still dominates in volumes, maintaining its position as the true emergency haven of cryptocurrencies.
As a result, tokenized gold occupies a growing but complementary role in parking capital or increasing diversification, with Patterns similar to October are also steadily emerging during tariff tensions throughout 2025..
Conclusion
In 2025, tokenized gold moved from a niche RWA category to a full-scale gold investment vehicle, rivaling, and in some cases surpassing, established gold ETFs in both growth and trading activity. Its ability to combine institutional-grade exposure with retail accessibility made it one of the most scalable segments within the RWA ecosystem.
While liquidity and market capitalization remain highly concentrated, the year marked a structural shift: tokenized gold is now more than just an alternative to traditional gold products, but an increasingly important liquidity venue in its own right, with a scale, usage and adoption that now places it firmly among the world’s largest gold investment instruments.
