As the traditional gold market heats up, cryptocurrency investors have followed suit, flocking to tokenized versions of the precious metal that offer both price exposure and digital flexibility.
Gold-backed cryptocurrencies such as Paxos Gold (PAXG) and Tether Gold (XAUT) have risen 24.15% and 23.7% year to date, respectively, hitting all-time highs above $3,300, roughly matching the performance of spot gold. Their prices have since retreated slightly to $3,265 and $3,244, respectively.
While gold-backed cryptocurrencies have surged so far this year, the overall cryptocurrency market has been on a downward trend. Bitcoin (BTC) is down more than 11% year to date, while the overall cryptocurrency market is down a little over 30%, according to the CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index.
These tokens, which are backed by physical gold and track its price, have surged in value as investors seek to circumvent uncertainty caused by the escalating U.S.-China trade war.
The move echoes the general return of gold as a safe-haven asset. Data from the World Gold Council shows that inflows into gold ETFs reached 226.5 tons in the first quarter of 2025, the highest level since the beginning of 2022. Nearly 60% of the demand came from North America.
Similarly, according to RWA.xyz, the net minting of tokens of gold-backed cryptocurrencies exceeded $42.7 million in the first quarter of this year, and combined with the rise in gold prices, its total market value is close to $1.4 billion.
