Looking at the history of gold to assess XAUT allocation value — 2026 Precious Metals Investment Guide

Key moments in gold history all point to the same conclusion: when systemic risks emerge, this ancient precious metal often becomes a safe haven. In the crypto era, Tether’s gold token XAUT is redefining how ordinary investors participate in gold allocation. Especially at the start of 2026, amid the accelerating global “de-dollarization” process and continuous central bank gold purchases, understanding the investment value of XAUT becomes increasingly important.

Gold Experiences Historic Surge, Surpassing 50 New Highs in 2025

Looking at the evolution of gold historically reveals that this precious metal often undergoes dramatic rises during specific periods. 2025 is precisely such a year.

According to data from the World Gold Council, 2025 saw remarkable achievements in spot gold prices: an approximate 65% increase for the year, over 50 new highs within the year, with the highest price reaching $4,549.96 per ounce, and closing at $4,318.65 per ounce on December 31. This reflects not only a price increase but also a renewed global investor recognition of gold assets.

Meanwhile, silver’s gains were even more astonishing, rising about 150% for the year. Such a comprehensive rise in precious metals is quite rare in the past decade, fully demonstrating the market’s urgent demand for safe-haven assets.

Three Major Forces Support Continuous Gold Price Growth

Every major surge in gold prices throughout history has underlying logical support, and 2025’s rally is no exception. Analyses from the World Gold Council and major investment institutions point to three core drivers:

Policy Uncertainty and Geopolitical Risks

Decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court on tariffs, geopolitical actions in Venezuela and other regions—these factors, while potentially causing short-term market volatility, also provide continuous support for safe assets like gold. The World Gold Council notes that aside from short-term fluctuations, gold is expected to continue its core role as a risk hedge.

Unprecedented Inflows of Institutional Capital

In 2025, global investors injected unprecedented funds into gold ETFs. North American funds contributed the majority of global inflows, Asian gold holdings nearly doubled, and European demand was also significant. These capital shifts directly pushed up gold prices.

Ongoing Central Bank Gold Purchases

With the Federal Reserve restarting rate cut cycles and central banks worldwide competing to buy gold, the strategic position of gold has been redefined. This provides structural support for future gold prices.

Based on these three pillars, UBS maintains a bullish stance, raising its gold target prices for March, June, and September 2026 to $5,000 per ounce (previously $4,500), expecting gold to slightly adjust to $4,800 per ounce by the end of 2026.

Scudo New Unit Lowers Allocation Barriers, Making Gold Payments More Practical

If history witnesses the macro value of this asset, Tether’s latest launch of Scudo addresses a long-standing issue for crypto investors—convenience in gold allocation—from a micro perspective.

Tether officially introduced a new valuation unit for XAUT (Tether Gold)—Scudo, cleverly redefining gold as a daily payment method. One Scudo is defined as one-thousandth of a troy ounce of gold, or one-thousandth of an XAUT, approximately $4.4.

This innovation may seem simple but solves the problem of handling long decimal digits during transactions or pricing. For example, users previously might need to consider values like 0.0001 XAUT; now, thinking in terms of 1 Scudo is enough. This makes gold more practical in daily economic activities, lowering the entry barrier to just a few dollars.

Tether Gold is currently fully backed by physical gold stored in secure vaults. The launch of Scudo does not change the structure or backing of XAUT, ensuring the security of user-held assets.

Four Major Advantages of XAUT Allocation, Why It’s Worth Attention

Compared to traditional gold ETFs or direct physical gold purchases, XAUT, as a new form of gold entering the crypto era, has four obvious allocation advantages:

First, Strong Issuer Capability and Sufficient Asset Reserves

Tether demonstrated its strong financial capacity through a series of actions in 2025. Earlier this year, CEO Paolo Ardoino announced that Tether purchased 8,888 Bitcoin during the New Year, worth about $780 million, bringing its total Bitcoin holdings to over 96,000 BTC. Tether also distributes 15% of quarterly profits regularly into Bitcoin.

In terms of gold, Tether bought 26 tons in Q3 2025, bringing its total gold holdings to 116 tons, ranking among the top 30 global gold holders. This robust asset reserve provides a solid backing for XAUT. The approximately $2.3 billion market cap of XAUT also demonstrates ample liquidity.

Second, Multi-Chain Ecosystem Support and Excellent Trading Flexibility

XAUT is listed on major CEX platforms like Bybit, OKX, Bitget, and also supported on DEXs such as Uniswap, Curve, Fluid. Users can choose spot trading or leverage contracts, flexibly configuring according to their risk appetite.

Third, Dominant Position in the Stablecoin Sector Providing Continuous Support

According to Bloomberg citing Artemis Analytics, in 2025, global stablecoin trading volume surged 72% year-over-year, reaching a record $33 trillion. Circle’s USDC accounted for $18.3 trillion, and Tether’s USDT for $13.3 trillion, maintaining high levels. The dominance of Tether in the stablecoin sector provides strong support for the widespread adoption and growth of XAUT.

Fourth, Practical Effectiveness in Hedging Fiat Currency Risks

The downward trend of the USD/CNY exchange rate is changing global capital allocation logic. For ordinary people with limited liquidity and lower risk appetite, converting part of their fiat into gold tokens like XAUT is a relatively balanced choice. It allows participation in the historic rise of gold while effectively hedging exchange rate and fiat devaluation risks.

History repeatedly shows that in times of uncertainty, the value of this ancient precious metal is often rediscovered. XAUT is making this discovery simpler and more efficient than ever.