Bitcoin News Today: Aurelion's Tokenized Gold Treasury Challenges Bitcoin's Digital Gold Narrative

Prestige Wealth, a Nasdaq-listed firm, has raised $150 million through a combination of a $100 million private placement and a $50 million senior debt facility to rebrand as Aurelion and establish the first Nasdaq-listed Tether Gold (XAU₮) treasury. The financing was anchored by Antalpha, a bitcoin financing firm, with additional participation from Tether and Kiara Capital Cointelegraph^[1]. The company will use most of the proceeds to acquire tokenized gold reserves, aiming to create a publicly verifiable, blockchain-native treasury. The rebranding is pending regulatory approvals, and the firm will trade under the ticker AURE starting October 13, 2025 Markets Business Insider^[2].

The move positions Aurelion as a pioneer in tokenized gold, leveraging Tether Gold's physical gold backing stored in Switzerland. Each XAU₮ token represents one troy fine ounce of gold, redeemable for LBMA-standard bullion. CEO Björn Schmidtke emphasized that tokenized gold offers a stable, inflation-resistant alternative to fiat and crypto, stating, "Tether Gold is the real digital gold" Coinotag^[3]. Antalpha's CFO, Paul Liang, highlighted the initiative's potential to enhance gold's accessibility, noting that redeeming XAU₮ for physical gold at a jewelry store could make digital assets more tangible The Block^[4].

The $150 million funding structure includes a 3-year senior debt facility secured by $67 million of the company's Tether Gold holdings, with an interest rate of 6% compounded monthly. Antalpha's investment grants it a 32.4% equity stake and 73.1% of voting rights, positioning it as the controlling shareholder. The company also plans to generate yield by lending unencumbered gold holdings through Antalpha, with Antalpha assuming default risk on the collateral Marketchameleon^[5].

Aurelion's leadership has undergone significant changes, with Schmidtke, a McKinsey alumnus and co-founder of a Paraguayan bitcoin miner, appointed as CEO. Antalpha gained two board seats, and a strategic advisory committee featuring Gemini's Rohan Chauhan was established to guide treasury strategy Financial Content^[6]. The company aims to launch a Digital Treasury Dashboard to provide real-time updates on XAU₮ holdings and metrics, enhancing transparency Cointelegraph^[7].

Market reaction to the announcement was mixed. Aurelion's stock (PWM) surged 19% intraday on October 10, 2025, but remains down over 94% from its IPO level. Analysts note that while tokenized gold's market capitalization has grown to $3 billion, Bitcoin's dominance in the "digital gold" narrative persists. However, Aurelion's strategy reflects growing institutional interest in asset-backed stablecoins, particularly as gold's role as an inflation hedge gains traction Yahoo Finance^[8].

The rebranding and treasury initiative align with broader trends in tokenized assets, with Tether Gold's reserves now backing 250,000 XAU₮ tokens, equivalent to 7.66 tons of gold. Antalpha's earlier $20 million Tether Gold acquisition and collaboration with Tether to launch the Antalpha RWA Hub underscore the strategic importance of this move in expanding digital gold's liquidity and use cases Cointelegraph^[9].