Tether Mints 192,657 XAUT Tokens Worth $946 Million on Ethereum

Tether mints large XAUT tranche

Tether minted 192,657 Tether Gold (XAUT) tokens on 30 January 2026 on the Ethereum blockchain. Each XAUT token represents one troy ounce of physical gold stored in Switzerland. The company valued this new batch at about $946 million, using market prices for tokenised gold on that day. The minting added a new batch of gold-backed tokens into circulation in a single transaction.

Gold volume and reserve backing detail

The 192,657 newly minted XAUT tokens correspond to around six metric tons of gold, using the standard conversion from troy ounces to kilograms. Tether reports that XAUT is backed one-to-one by gold bars meeting London Bullion Market Association standards in Swiss vaults. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, Tether disclosed 520,089.35 troy ounces of gold backing 520,089.3 XAUT tokens. The firm added about 27 metric tons of gold to its exposure in that quarter through Tether Gold Investments.

XAUT position in tokenised gold market

Gold-backed stablecoins use tokens to represent ownership of specific gold quantities recorded on public blockchains. According to Tether’s disclosures at the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, Tether Gold reached a market value of about $2.25 billion, with around 520,000 XAUT tokens outstanding. This level gave XAUT around 60 percent of the gold-backed stablecoin market at that time, based on combined figures from Tether and crypto market tracking services.

“Through Tether Gold, we are operating at a scale that now places the Tether Gold Investment Fund alongside sovereign gold holders, and that carries real responsibility.” 26 January 2026. — Paolo Ardoino, CEO, Tether

Tether’s growing physical gold exposure

Tether increased its physical gold holdings in 2025 through purchases linked to its token and investment products. By late 2025, the firm held around 140 metric tons of gold, according to corporate disclosures and statements by its chief executive. In the fourth quarter of 2025 alone, Tether Gold Investments acquired about 27 metric tons. The company has also stated plans to allocate around 10 to 15 percent of its investment portfolio to gold, funded by profits from its stablecoin operations.

Market conditions and XAUT risk context

The January 2026 mint occurred during a period of rising gold prices, as described in interviews with Tether’s chief executive. In these interviews, Paolo Ardoino described a global environment where “gold is making all-time highs every single day” and “everyone is scared.”