What Is XAUT? Tether Gold Explained: Backing and Networks

XAUT (Tether Gold) is a token issued by TG Commodities, part of the Tether group, in which each token represents ownership of one troy fine ounce of gold on a London Good Delivery bar stored in a vault in Switzerland. Its price follows the gold price, not the dollar. You can hold it in an ordinary crypto wallet, send it like any token, look up which physical bar backs your tokens and, as a verified customer, redeem for gold or sell it back. It is a way to hold gold on a blockchain, with the trade-offs of a single issuer.

What one XAUT gives you

Because the token tracks gold, its dollar value moves every day: in some weeks gold moves several percent. That is the point of holding it and also the main difference from USDT, which aims to stay at one dollar. If you want dollar stability, XAUT is the wrong tool; if you want gold exposure without a bank account or a vault contract, it is one of the few options with real metal behind it.

Looking up your bar

Tether Gold publishes a lookup tool: enter your address and it shows the serial number, refiner, weight and purity of the bars attributed to your holdings. Tokens are allocated to bars, so a holding of 2.5 XAUT is a share of a specific bar rather than a claim on an unallocated pool. The lookup does not prove the gold is in the vault — that is what Tether's attestation reports are for — but it lets you see the allocation the issuer states.

Fees and redemption

• No storage fee is charged to holders, according to Tether Gold's terms; fees apply when buying from or selling to the issuer.
• Physical redemption is possible for verified customers, with delivery in Switzerland; minimums and costs are set by Tether Gold and are high enough that it makes sense for larger holdings only.
• Selling on exchanges or swapping to USDT is how most holders exit; the price you get depends on liquidity, which is thinner than for USDT.

Read the current terms on gold.tether.to before relying on any of these points; they can change, and redemption requires identity verification with the issuer.

Networks: Ethereum and XAUt0

The original XAUT is an ERC-20 token on Ethereum. Tether has extended it to other chains through its omnichain version, XAUt0, built on the same technology as USDT0. The liquidity provider lists XAUT on Ethereum, Mantle, Monad, Solana and TON; on TON a memo is required for deposits, as for other TON tokens. Each network is a separate representation: send XAUT only on the network the receiver supports, and keep the native coin of that network (ETH, SOL, TON, MNT, MON) for gas.

Swapping XAUT to USDT and back

1. Choose XAUT and its network as the coin you send, and USDT on the network you need as the coin you receive — or the reverse to buy XAUT.
2. On 21.10.2026 the provider's minimum for XAUT on Ethereum to USDT TRC20 was about 0.00729 XAUT, credited after 6 Ethereum confirmations, payout fee about 1.3 USDT.
3. Buying XAUT with USDT TRC20 started at about 30 USDT, with a payout network fee of 0.001 XAUT on Ethereum.
4. The quote moves with the gold price as well as with the usual service fee (1% float, 1.5% fixed). A fixed rate locks the amount for the payment window.

XAUT, PAXG and gold ETFs

PAX Gold (PAXG), issued by Paxos, is the other large gold token, also one token per troy ounce of London Good Delivery gold, stored in London. A gold ETF is a fund share held through a broker. The token options settle around the clock and can be self-custodied; the ETF route offers investor protections of the securities system and usually lower spreads for large amounts. In every case the risk you take is the gold price plus the reliability of the custodian chain.

Tax and reporting

Tax treatment differs by country. Some tax authorities treat a gold token as a crypto-asset, others look at the underlying gold; a swap of XAUT to USDT is a disposal in many jurisdictions. Keep a record of acquisition dates and prices, as you would for any crypto asset; the tax lot calculator helps when you buy in several pieces.