Tokenized gold trading volume reached $90.7bn in the first quarter of 2026

What happened

Research published in May 2026 put first-quarter tokenized gold trading volume at $90.7bn, a quarterly record that exceeded the full-year 2025 total. The same research found tokenized gold volume grew roughly five times faster than volume in physical gold instruments over the quarter. The outstanding stock is concentrated. Tokenized gold market capitalisation passed $6bn on 13 February 2026, led by Tether Gold and Paxos's Pax Gold, each of which represents allocated bullion held in vaults with redemption rights attached to the token. The growth in trading volume ran ahead of growth in supply, meaning turnover per unit of outstanding token rose. That pattern is consistent with tokenized gold being used as a trading and collateral instrument on exchanges and in decentralised lending markets rather than only as a long-term store of value.

Why it matters

Tokenized gold is the clearest test of whether tokenization adds anything to an asset that already has deep, cheap, well-understood market infrastructure. Gold futures, ETFs and unallocated accounts all work; the case for a token rests on 24-hour settlement, divisibility and usability as collateral in onchain credit markets. Volume at this level makes commodities a materially sized tokenized asset class alongside government securities and money market funds, and it gives regulators a concrete instance of a bearer-style claim on a physical asset circulating on public networks. The redemption mechanics, vault audit practices and treatment of tokenized bullion as eligible collateral are the questions that follow.

What is not settled

Volume methodology is vendor-defined and covers centralised and decentralised venues unevenly; no exchange-audited series exists for tokenized gold turnover.