Tether Gold investor holdings rose 9.5% in Q2, with demand for tokenized gold continuing to heat up.

Data released by Tether shows that its tokenized gold product Tether Gold (XAU₮) saw a 9.5% rise in investor holdings during the second quarter of 2026, reflecting sustained growing demand for on-chain gold assets. The data indicates that despite a 14.1% drop in gold prices in Q2, investors continued to add to their XAU₮ positions, showing that market demand is not solely driven by bullish gold trends—some investors are taking advantage of price pullbacks to increase their exposure to physical gold. As of June 30, 2026, XAU₮ is fully backed by physical gold at a 1:1 ratio, with total gold reserves amounting to 707,747.139 troy ounces, equivalent to approximately 22.01 tons and valued at around $2.837 billion. By the end of Q2, 612,823.66 XAU₮ tokens had been issued, up 53,225.02 from 559,598.64 at the end of Q1, corresponding to an additional 1.66 tons of physical gold held by investors, representing a roughly 9.5% rise in client holdings. Tether noted that XAU₮’s gold reserves remained unchanged throughout the quarter, with every token backed by at least one troy ounce of physical gold. The gold is stored in Swiss vaults, including 1,759 London Good Delivery standard bars and other bars of various specifications. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said that gold experienced its largest quarterly decline in 13 years during Q2, yet investors continued to buy XAU₮, indicating that tokenized gold is becoming a new way for investors to allocate to physical gold. Additionally, data from Tether International SA de CV shows that the company purchased a total of about 27.1 tons of gold in the first half of 2026, with an average monthly procurement of roughly 4.5 tons. If included in central bank gold purchase rankings, its total gold holdings would stand at approximately 150 tons, ranking third in global gold accumulation during the period, second only to Poland and China.