The market for tokenized commodities has expanded by 53% in under six weeks, surpassing $6.1 billion and emerging as the fastest-growing segment within real-world asset tokenization, largely driven by increased onchain representation of gold. At the beginning of the year, the sector was valued at slightly above $4 billion, meaning roughly $2 billion has been added since Jan. 1, according to data from Token Terminal.

Gold-linked products continue to dominate this segment. Tether’s gold-backed token, Tether Gold (XAUt), has been the primary contributor, with its market capitalization rising 51.6% over the past month to $3.6 billion. Over the same period, Paxos-issued PAX Gold (PAXG) grew 33.2% to $2.3 billion.

On a yearly basis, tokenized commodities have surged 360%, with growth in early 2026 significantly exceeding that of tokenized equities and tokenized funds, which expanded by 42% and 3.6%, respectively. The sector now represents slightly more than one-third of the $17.2 billion tokenized funds market and remains substantially larger than tokenized equities, valued at $538 million.

Tether recently strengthened its presence in the space by acquiring a $150 million stake in precious metals platform Gold.com, aiming to expand access to tokenized gold. The company indicated that XAUt would be integrated into Gold.com’s infrastructure and that options are being explored to allow users to purchase physical gold using the USDt stablecoin.

Gold strengthens as crypto lags

The expansion of tokenized gold coincides with strong performance in the physical gold market, where spot prices climbed more than 80% over the past year to reach a record $5,600 on Jan. 29. Although a short-term pullback briefly pushed prices toward $4,700 earlier in the month, gold later recovered to around $5,050.

At the same time, Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market have struggled since the major downturn on Oct. 10, which triggered approximately $19 billion in liquidations. Bitcoin declined 52.4% from its early October peak of $126,080 to near $60,000 before rebounding toward $69,050, according to CoinGecko data.

The divergence between gold and digital assets has prompted some market observers to reassess Bitcoin’s positioning. Strike CEO Jack Mallers suggested that Bitcoin continues to be treated more like a technology-linked asset than a hard-money instrument, while Grayscale noted that Bitcoin’s “digital gold” narrative is being tested, as recent price behavior has more closely resembled that of a high-risk growth asset rather than a traditional safe-haven.

Sources:

https://tokenterminal.com/explorer/studio/dashboards/bee0f893-ce26-4316-94f2-ad92bd16d327?v=NDY4YjE1MjhkOTU4ZjgyOTE0MmZlMWI1&expandChartId=231b06b0-90c8-445c-8eaa-29fa1a859bde

https://cointelegraph.com/news/tokenized-commodities-like-gold-reach-6-billion

https://x.com/jackmallers/status/2020883834162614415

https://tokenterminal.com/explorer/tokenized-assets

https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bitcoin

https://goldprice.org/