As Tether launched its gold-backed token, Bitcoin has outpaced gold by nearly 10 times in the last 5 years.
- Tether launched Scudo, a new on-chain unit that simplifies the pricing and transfer of gold-backed value through its Tether Gold (XAU₮) token.
- Scudo enables fractional gold transactions, allowing users to send and price gold in smaller units while keeping XAU₮ fully backed by physical gold.
- The launch comes amid a strong gold rally, as renewed interest in precious metals.
As gold prices continue to climb, Tether (UDST) is making a push into the world of digital bullion. Tether launched Scudo on Tuesday, a new on-chain unit designed to simplify the use of its gold-backed token.
In a press release, Tether said Scudo is a smaller accounting unit for Tether Gold (XAU₮) that allows users to price, transfer, and transact gold value in simpler denominations. Each Scudo represents one-thousandth of a troy ounce of gold held behind XAU₮. For example, instead of sending 0.002 ounces of gold, you can now transfer 2 Scudo.
According to Tether, Scudo lowers barriers for using gold as a medium of exchange on blockchain networks, particularly as gold prices rise. XAU₮ remains fully backed by physical gold stored in secure vaults, with ownership verifiable on-chain.
“XAU₮ makes gold digital, and now with Scudo, we are lowering the barrier to entry so that anyone can own, price, and transact even the smallest fraction of gold,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. He added that usability, not just price exposure, remains one of the main challenges for digital representations of real-world assets.
XAU₮ provides on-chain exposure to physical gold and is used by investors as a digital alternative to holding or storing bullion, with tokens transferable across supported blockchain networks.
Tether is also the largest stablecoin by market capitalization. Tether (USDT), pegged to the U.S. dollar, was trading at $0.99, down 0.04% over the past day. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around tether remained in ‘bullish’ territory, with ‘high’ chatter levels over the past day.
Move Amid Precious Metals Rally
Tether’s move to fractionalize gold comes at a time when gold and silver prices climbed sharply through 2025 and into early 2026, supported by heightened geopolitical uncertainty. Spot gold has been trading around $4,460 per ounce, while silver has hovered near $79.31 per ounce.
On Tuesday, Global strategist Peter Schiff said on X that gold was poised to trade above $4,500, adding that a break above $4,550 could lead to a sharp move higher.
Bitcoin (BTC) has often been described by investors as “digital gold” due to its fixed supply and store-of-value narrative. Long-time gold advocate Schiff has repeatedly rejected that comparison, arguing publicly that gold remains superior to Bitcoin as a hedge. Despite that criticism, Bitcoin has significantly outperformed gold over the past decade, with nearly 10 times the growth in the last five years.
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