In short
- Tether launched the time period Scudo on Tuesday to signify 1/1,000th of a troy ounce of gold.
- The stablecoin issuer thinks the time period might bolster gold’s use in funds.
- Tether points a gold-backed token, XAUT, and holds almost $17 billion price of gold.
Tether moved to ascertain a brand new unit of account for gold on Tuesday, because the stablecoin business chief argued that transactions denominated in “Scudo” might simplify the valuable steel’s use in on a regular basis funds.
Beneath the stablecoin issuer’s definition, one Scudo would equate to one-thousandth of a troy ounce of gold—in addition to its XAUT token, which is valued at $2.3 billion, based on CoinGecko. The token’s market cap has almost quadrupled over the previous yr.
In a weblog submit, Tether acknowledged that demand for gold has been bolstered worldwide by “persistent inflation considerations, heightened interest-rate uncertainty, file central financial institution purchases, and rising demand for safe-haven property.”
Though a lion’s share of the agency’s merchandise are pegged to the U.S. greenback, it described these elements as an “alternative to revive gold” to its former standing: a universally accepted medium of change that may’t be devalued by a authorities’s capacity to print cash. The corporate added that its pockets developer equipment can assist assist XAUT on just about any gadget.
Tether famous that “satoshi” is already utilized in an identical approach to Scudo, as a approach to discuss with the smallest unit of Bitcoin, or one hundred-millionth of a Bitcoin. One satoshi is at present price round $0.001, whereas one Scudo can be price roughly $4.48.
Tether’s time period dates again to the sixteenth century, greater than 400 years earlier than the primary model of the web was developed. Scudo was used to explain a wide range of cash in Italy, possible hammered from steel blanks. The time period was derived from the Latin phrase for defend.
Introducing Scudo.
A brand new approach to measure the worth of gold on-chain. Scudo is a straightforward, intuitive unit that makes Tether Gold ( XAU₮) simpler to make use of, observe, and transact.1 Scudo = 1/1000 of an XAU₮ (Gold Ounce), providing you with a sensible and accessible approach to ship and obtain gold… pic.twitter.com/JLbhuUYTk2
— Tether Gold (@tethergold) January 6, 2026
The parallel with Tether’s brand could also be coincidental, however CEO Paolo Ardoino and CFO Giancarlo Devasini had been each born in Italy. Final yr, Tether acquired a minority stake in soccer membership Juventus, considered one of Italy's most storied soccer golf equipment. An all-cash supply to purchase a majority stake within the crew was rejected final month.
Tether stated that its introduction of Scudo doesn’t change the truth that gold backing its XAUT tokens is “held in safe vaults.” If a person want to redeem their tokens, the corporate’s web site says it may well ship gold bars to “any bodily deal with in Switzerland.”
In keeping with Tether’s web site, XAUT is backed by 1,329 gold bars equal to 16.2 metric tons. The agency printed its first attestation report from BDO Italia for the token final April, which didn’t adjust to worldwide monetary reporting requirements as a result of it didn’t embody main disclosures and statements from the stablecoin issuer. Tether’s critics have referred to as on the business’s main stablecoin issuer to obtain impartial audits for a decade.
In April, Ardoino stated on X that XAUT was “gaining vital traction in rising markets.”
Tether additionally presents a token referred to as Alloy, which it payments as a “Tethered Asset.” By pledging XAUT tokens, the corporate says clients can obtain a lesser quantity aUSDT tokens, which mirror the performance of its $187 billion stablecoin and are additionally pegged to the U.S. Greenback.
A number of months earlier than Tether’s XAUT debuted, stablecoin issuer Paxos started providing PAXG, the primary digital asset that could possibly be redeemed for gold. That token’s market cap stood at $1.7 billion on Tuesday, whereas tripling over the previous yr, based on CoinGecko.
Paxos, which additionally points PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin, stated PAXG would turn into “the one institutional-grade gold token issued below federal regulatory oversight,” following the Workplace of the Comptroller of the Forex’s approval of a nationwide banking constitution final month.
Tether’s XAUT could also be price $2.3 billion, however the stablecoin issuer says it owns far more gold than that. The agency stated it held 116 tonnes of gold as of the tip of Q3 2025, with that tally valued at almost $17 billion as of Tuesday.
