Tether’s Gold Ambition: How a Stablecoin Giant Is Trying to Act Like a “Gold Central Bank”

With about $186–$187 billion of USDT circulating, Tether’s reserve profits are financing a push into gold trading and a tighter-regulated U.S.-focused stablecoin. Now the company is trying to bolt something ancient onto that modern pipe: physical gold. The story behind the story is that Tether’s “gold” is not a single product. One slice supports XAUt, its tokenized gold, designed so each token represents physical gold held in custody and verifiable on-chain. At the same time, Tether has signaled it wants a more rule-bound pathway too, launching a U.S.-focused stablecoin aimed at operating under tighter oversight.