Tether Launches Scudo Denomination to Enable Everyday XAUt Gold Payments

TheNewsCryptoPublished on 2026-01-07Last updated on 2026-01-07

Abstract

Tether, the stablecoin issuer, has introduced a new denomination called Scudo for its Tether Gold (XAUt) token. Scudo is defined as one-thousandth of an XAUt, enabling users to make everyday payments in very small or fractional units of gold. This move aims to expand the use of the gold-backed crypto beyond a store of value into daily transactions. The core structure of XAUt remains unchanged, with each token fully backed by physical gold held in vaults. Tether cited gold's record-high prices driven by inflation fears and safe-haven demand as a key reason for this development. The new denomination, which involves no additional charges, is compared to how satoshis function for Bitcoin. XAUt continues to lead the gold-backed token market with a $1.8 billion market cap.

Tether, a stablecoin issuer, has unveiled a new denomination called Scudo for its Tether Gold (XAUt) token. It is a gold-backed crypto, which represents the ownership of physical gold. As gold prices have reached record highs, Tether aimed for everyday payments in gold, expanding its token use case beyond a traditional store of value.

According to Tether’s official post on Jan 6th, Scudo is defined as one-thousandth of an XAUt. While XAUt is already tokenizing physical gold, where daily usage is limited, any gold-backed deals can be done with very small or decimal units of gold. Now users can use whole or partial units of Scudo to send or receive for any day-to-day transactions.

XAUt’s Core Structure Remains Unchanged

The newly launched Scudo will not affect the underlying structure of the XAUt token, where Tether Gold is still entirely underpinned by real gold kept in safe vaults, and Tether’s asset reporting tools allow ownership to be confirmed on-chain.​

As this new Scudo is not a new token or crypto, it is just a denomination, so no fees will be charged. Still, XAUt charges regular issue and redemption fees; there are no continuous custodial fees.

Gold Climbs to Record Highs

In tether’s official post, they mentioned that Gold has risen to unparalleled highs in 2025, which is pushed by ongoing inflation fears, increased interest-rate concerns, massive central bank purchases, and surging demand for safe-haven assets. For that, XAUt already made physical gold digital, Scudo addressed the real usability for people.​

They also noted that this approach is just like Bitcoin, which is mainly a store of value, and satoshis as their units for everyday transactions instead of being just a storage.​

With that, in the crypto market, the gold-backed market capitalization currently stands at $3.6 billion with 7% surge in trading volume, and XAUt leads the gold-backed token market, trading at $4,460.10 with $1.8 billion market cap at the time of writing, as per CMC data.

Highlighted Crypto News Today:

‌Quantum Computing Emerges as a Potential Threat to Bitcoin Security

TagsTetherXAUt

Trending Cryptos

ctr
CitreaCTR
wstusdt
wrapped stUSDTWSTUSDT
apr
aPrioriAPR
ctx
Cryptex FinanceCTX
audio
AudiusAUDIO
mantra
MantraMANTRA
xvs
VenusXVS
waxl
AxelarWAXL
bill
Billions NetworkBILL
pyth
PYTH (Pyth)PYTH
rune
THORChainRUNE
velodrome
Velodrome FinanceVELODROME
brev
BrevisBREV
zrx
ZRX（0X）ZRX
cake
PancakeSwapCAKE

Related Questions

QWhat is the new denomination launched by Tether for its Tether Gold (XAUt) token?

ATether has launched a new denomination called Scudo for its Tether Gold (XAUt) token.

QHow is the Scudo denomination defined in relation to the XAUt token?

AScudo is defined as one-thousandth of an XAUt token.

QWhat is the primary purpose of introducing the Scudo denomination?

AThe primary purpose is to enable everyday payments in gold by allowing users to transact with very small or decimal units of gold.

QDoes the introduction of Scudo change the underlying structure or backing of the XAUt token?

ANo, the core structure of XAUt remains unchanged; it is still entirely backed by physical gold held in vaults.

QAccording to the article, what factors have contributed to gold reaching record highs in 2025?

AGold prices have been pushed to record highs by ongoing inflation fears, increased interest-rate concerns, massive central bank purchases, and surging demand for safe-haven assets.

Related Reads

The Verdict in Choi Tae-won's Divorce Case: Revealing the Inheritance Undercurrent Behind SK Hynix's Trillion-Won Empire

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won's high-profile divorce case, involving a record 1.38 trillion won settlement, has drawn attention to the succession plans for Korea's second-largest conglomerate, especially its crown jewel, SK hynix. Unlike traditional chaebol scripts centered on the eldest son, Chey's three children from his marriage to former President Roh Tae-woo's daughter, Roh Soh-yeong, are carving distinct, non-traditional paths. Eldest daughter Chey Yun-jung (b. 1989) is seen as the most evident successor. With a scientific and consulting background, she holds executive roles at SK bioscience and SK Inc.'s growth support department, focusing on future strategy and biopharma. Her marriage is to an AI infrastructure entrepreneur, not a traditional business alliance. Second daughter Chey Min-jung (b. 1991) took a unique route, voluntarily serving as a South Korean naval officer, including an anti-piracy deployment. She later worked on policy and strategy for SK hynix in Washington D.C. before co-founding an AI-driven healthcare startup. She married a former U.S. Marine Corps officer, connecting her to U.S. defense and policy circles—networks crucial for a global semiconductor giant. The only son, Chey In-geun (b. 1995), who studied physics like his father, worked briefly at SK E&S before joining McKinsey. Despite fitting the traditional "heir" profile as the eldest son, he remains silent and holds no public position or shares in SK, suggesting the old succession playbook is obsolete. As SK hynix's valuation soars, becoming a geopolitical asset in the AI era, the heirs' legitimacy is no longer automatic. They must prove themselves in fields like AI biotech, global policy, and strategic consulting. Their marriages also reflect new elite networks in tech and defense, not old political alliances. Their inheritance is the complex challenge of navigating a globalized, tech-driven world, not just a corporate throne.

marsbit22h ago

The Verdict in Choi Tae-won's Divorce Case: Revealing the Inheritance Undercurrent Behind SK Hynix's Trillion-Won Empire

marsbit22h ago

Banks oppose stablecoin yield deal – Can CLARITY Act find 60 votes?

The Bank Policy Institute (BPI) has opposed the latest draft of the CLARITY Act, criticizing its provisions on stablecoin yield and illicit finance. The banking industry sought a total ban on stablecoin yield, but the bill's compromise only prohibits passive yield on idle balances. This opposition has influenced lawmakers, reducing tentative Republican Senate support to potentially 49 votes. With the 60-vote threshold needed, securing sufficient Democratic support appears difficult as some pro-crypto Democrats also oppose the bill due to ethics and illicit finance concerns. Senate Majority Leader John Thune expressed doubt the bill can pass before the August recess. Market odds for the bill's passage in 2026 have fallen, leaving its future uncertain.

ambcrypto22h ago

Banks oppose stablecoin yield deal – Can CLARITY Act find 60 votes?

ambcrypto22h ago

2 Months, Valuation Soars from $8.8B to $68B! The Largest AI Model Hub OpenRouter May Be Acquired

Stripe is reportedly in talks to acquire AI model marketplace OpenRouter for a price nearing $10 billion, a dramatic increase from its $1.3 billion valuation just two months prior. The deal, which could be announced within a month, would see the payment giant absorb a key "router" or aggregation layer in the AI infrastructure stack. OpenRouter provides developers with a single API to access over 400 large language models (LLMs), automatically routing queries to the most suitable model based on cost, capability, and speed. This allows AI applications to optimize expenses while maintaining user experience. Founded in 2023 by ex-OpenSea co-founder Alex Atallah and Louis Vichy, OpenRouter has grown rapidly, reaching $50 million in annualized revenue by April and serving over one million developers. For Stripe, the acquisition of OpenRouter follows its late-2025 purchase of usage-based billing platform Metronome. The combined strategy aims to create an integrated suite for the AI economy: OpenRouter would handle model selection and routing, Metronome would manage granular usage-based billing, and Stripe's core platform would process payments. This positions Stripe to control a critical part of the AI application value chain, influencing which models get used while simplifying cost management for enterprise customers.

链捕手22h ago

2 Months, Valuation Soars from $8.8B to $68B! The Largest AI Model Hub OpenRouter May Be Acquired

链捕手22h ago

From OpenSea to OpenRouter: Is Alex Atallah Repeating His 'Exit at the Peak' Playbook?

From OpenSea to OpenRouter: Is Alex Atallah Repeating His "Exit at the Peak" Playbook? According to the Wall Street Journal, payments giant Stripe is in talks to acquire the AI model aggregation platform OpenRouter in a potential deal valuing the company near $100 billion. This would mark founder Alex Atallah's second creation of a company reaching a $100 billion valuation, following his co-founding of NFT marketplace OpenSea. OpenRouter, founded just over three years ago, has grown rapidly by acting as a unified gateway for developers to access over 400 AI models. It currently has about 10 million users and processes over 200 trillion tokens monthly. While the platform's annualized revenue is around $50 million, its valuation has skyrocketed from $1.3 billion in March 2026. The potential acquisition by Stripe, a company OpenRouter's founder once likened it to, represents a major expansion into AI infrastructure for the payments leader. This move echoes Atallah's previous timing with OpenSea, where he departed before the NFT market's significant downturn. For OpenRouter, selling now may be strategic. Despite its scale, its business model—charging a 5-5.5% fee on AI inference calls—faces pressure from competition, open-source models, and potential price wars among model providers, limiting its profitability narrative for an IPO. A key asset for potential acquirers like Stripe is OpenRouter's vast repository of real-world AI usage data, which offers unique insights into model performance and developer preferences that are difficult to replicate. Whether this potential deal signifies a new valuation benchmark for AI infrastructure or another market peak signal remains to be seen.

链捕手22h ago

From OpenSea to OpenRouter: Is Alex Atallah Repeating His 'Exit at the Peak' Playbook?

链捕手22h ago

Pons V2 brings RWA trading pairs as Robinhood Chain broadens its ambitions

Pons, a key launchpad on Robinhood Chain, has launched its V2 upgrade. The update aims to boost liquidity, remove trading restrictions for most users via an ETH-denominated bonding curve, and introduces support for custom tokenized real-world asset (RWA) trading pairs. This aligns with Robinhood Chain's broader RWA focus. The upgrade also allows creators to collect fees in ETH by default. The network itself is growing rapidly, surpassing $300 million in Total Value Locked. Its cumulative DEX volume has exceeded $9 billion, with about 80% coming from speculative memecoin trading. However, data shows 63% of traders are at a loss, with profits concentrated in a small number of wallets. The introduction of RWAs could help drive more organic adoption for the chain, which is positioning itself as a major player for speculative trading, challenging networks like Base and Solana.

ambcrypto23h ago

Pons V2 brings RWA trading pairs as Robinhood Chain broadens its ambitions

ambcrypto23h ago

Trading

Spot

Hot Articles

Discussions

Welcome to the HTX Community. Here, you can stay informed about the latest platform developments and gain access to professional market insights. Users' opinions on the price of XAUT (XAUT) are presented below.

活动图片

Top Questions