Tokenized Gold Trading Volume Surges 1000% Amid Global Uncertainty

Tokenized gold trading volume has surged to a two-year high, exceeding $1 billion as investors seek safe-haven assets amidst global uncertainty triggered by US President Donald Trump’s import tariffs. This marks the first time since March 2023 that the weekly trading volume of tokenized gold has surpassed this milestone, a period that saw the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the voluntary liquidation of Silvergate Bank, followed by the closure of Signature Bank by New York regulators.

The surge in tokenized gold trading interest began in early February, coinciding with the spread of global trade war fears to digital markets. Since Trump’s first tariff announcement on January 20, the trading volume of top tokenized gold assets has seen significant increases. Paxos Gold (PAXG) trading volume surged by over 900%, Tether Gold (XAUT) trading rose over 300%, and Kinesis Gold (KAU) volume increased by more than 83,000%. Tokenized gold has become one of the best-performing crypto categories since Trump’s inauguration, with a market cap increase of over 21% and a trading volume expansion of over 1,000%. In comparison, stablecoins saw an 8% market cap increase and a 285% trading volume expansion during the same period.

Tokenized gold is part of the growing real-world asset (RWA) tokenization sector, which includes financial products and tangible assets such as real estate and fine art minted on the blockchain. The surge in tokenized gold coincides with a record-setting performance in physical gold, which hit an all-time high of over $3,100 per ounce on March 31 and was trading above $3,118 at the time of writing. Since the beginning of 2025, the price of gold has risen over 18%, outperforming Bitcoin (BTC), which has fallen by more than 12% year-to-date.

Gold’s robust price performance after key tariff-related events highlights a growing appetite for safe-haven assets. However, tokenized gold remains far from being a physical gold competitor at the current stage of RWA development. Tokenized gold presents a compelling alternative for crypto-native investors who might otherwise look to Bitcoin or stablecoins. In this context, tokenized gold has primarily served as a diversification tool, gaining increasing traction in investor portfolios as market uncertainty deepens.

Geopolitical trade tensions caused by Trump’s import tariffs have inspired a flight to safety among crypto investors, specifically toward stablecoins and tokenized assets. Following the 2023 banking crisis, the Federal Reserve created the Bank Term Funding Program, offering banking loans of up to a year in return for posting “qualifying assets” as collateral. This emergency measure was what started the Bitcoin bull run in 2023.