Gold-backed tokens have quietly posted record-breaking volumes – signaling growing investor appetite for real-world assets (RWAs) onchain.
Over the past two weeks, combined onchain trading volumes for Tether Gold (XAUt) and Paxos Gold (PAXG) reached $236 million, marking a 247% spike from the prior fortnight. This also represents a 43% jump compared to early April 2025 when the current uptrend first began.
PAXG continues to dominate, accounting for 68% of the total volume, according to DeFiLlama.
What’s Driving the Spike?
The surge in onchain gold trading coincides with:
Persistent macro uncertainty – driven by U.S. tariff policy shifts and conflict in the Middle East.
Rising spot gold prices – which have climbed 29% over the last 6 months, and 2% over the past month.
Recovery in crypto markets – which appears to be fueling broader interest in non-volatile tokenized assets.
The spike reflects how onchain gold is increasingly viewed not just as a safe haven, but as a reliable liquidity asset during periods of geopolitical or market stress.
[TECH] The Rise of Gold-Backed Cryptocurrencies: Combining Tradition and Innovation: In recent years, investors have been exploring new ways to diversify their portfolios. Gold-backed cryptocurrencies have g.. https://t.co/Mf0qraCewl via @BitcoinKE
— Top Kenyan Blogs (@Blogs_Kenya) May 30, 2024
Tokenized Stocks: The Next Wave?
The boom in gold-backed tokens comes just as institutional and DeFi players ramp up efforts to tokenize traditional equities.
TOKEN ANALYSIS | #RWA Launchpad, Collaterize $COLLAT Surges 300% in 5 Days Following @solana Founder Repost
“In our model, a portion of each tokenized asset goes into a dedicated liquidity pool ensuring it’s immediately tradable.” – @CollaterizeHQ https://t.co/gz57ATFHZs pic.twitter.com/PhI1RaxPJk
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) May 22, 2025
Key Players:
Coinbase: The largest U.S.-based crypto exchange is reportedly seeking SEC approval to launch onchain stock trading, following comments from CFO, Alesia Haas, hinting at “security tokens” entering the mainstream.
Hyperliquid ($HYPE): A decentralized derivatives protocol, already popular for perp trading, is rumored to be working on tokenized equities as well.
Dinari ($dShares): While the giants talk, Dinari is building. The platform has seen a 760% TVL increase since March 2025 as users gain exposure to real-world stocks via blockchain.
TOKEN ANALYSIS | @HyperliquidX Token ( $HYPE ) Hits New All-Time High Amid CFTC Boost for Perpetual Futures
Hyperliquid L1’s Total Value Locked (TVL) also hit a new high of $1.33 billion, ranking it among the top 10 blockchains by #DeFi TVLhttps://t.co/YbyuqreUQt pic.twitter.com/WulY6WJfRJ
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) May 24, 2025
Why It Matters
This uptick in onchain RWA activity is more than a short-term trend – it’s a clear signal of investor appetite for asset-backed stability onchain.
As regulators and innovators converge on tokenized securities, the recent performance of XAUt and PAXG offers a case study in what credible, compliant RWAs can achieve when integrated into DeFi rails.
With tokenized gold now setting volume records, and tokenized stocks on the horizon, a new era of compliant real-world asset trading may already be underway.
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