Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Author | Wenser (@wenser 2010)
2026, survival is paramount.
In the previous article "2026, Survive: A Bear Market Survival and Counterattack Manual for Crypto Enthusiasts", we systematically outlined this year's "survival strategy", emphasizing the allocation of assets such as gold and other precious metals as a major component. For those aspiring to use gold to combat inflation, mitigate fiat currency devaluation, the decline of the US dollar exchange rate, and other issues, how to allocate gold-related assets has become the next challenge.
In this regard, based on the author's personal understanding, XAUT, issued by Tether, might relatively be the best way for crypto users to allocate gold assets. Considering Tether's recent launch of a new unit of account "Scudo" for Tether Gold (XAU₮), the entry barrier for gold token allocation has also sharply dropped to as low as a few dollars.
Odaily Planet Daily will systematically analyze in this article whether XAUT is worth allocating in one's portfolio.
Potential Supports for Gold's Rise: US Policies, ETF Inflows, Bank Ratings
Last September, when the spot gold price was still around $3400-$3500, we introduced five major gold tokens in the article "Gold Price Expected to Continue Surging to $3900/oz, Here's a List of 5 Gold Tokens", with XAUT being one of them. Looking back 3 months later, the spot gold price per ounce once surged to around $4550. It has to be said, impressively so.
Moreover, despite recent phased price corrections, the upward trend of spot gold has not been significantly interrupted. Specifically, the support for gold prices stems from the following aspects:
World Gold Council: US Supreme Court Tariff Decision and Two Other Factors Only Constitute Short-Term Fluctuation Impacts on Gold's Future Trends
The World Gold Council reported that the surge in precious metals (including silver and platinum) in December and the rebalancing of commodity indices might trigger market volatility in the short term. However, aside from short-term fluctuation impacts, gold is expected to continue its own operational logic. The upcoming US Supreme Court ruling on tariff policy could significantly impact US trade policy. Its effect on gold might be more complex but could constitute potential support. Finally, ongoing geopolitical conflicts (with recent US actions in Venezuela being the latest example) also provide support for gold prices.
Gold Price Set 53 Historical Records in 2025, ETFs Saw Unprecedented Inflows
The World Gold Council stated that as the gold price set 53 historical records in 2025, global investors poured unprecedented funds into gold ETFs. North American funds contributed the main part of the global inflows in 2025. Meanwhile, gold holdings in the Asian region nearly doubled, and Europe also showed significant demand.
Gold Rose About 65% in 2025 and Set Over 50 New Highs, Silver Rose About 150%
The 2025 precious metals market showed that spot gold closed down 0.46% on December 31 at $4318.65/oz. Against the backdrop of global "de-dollarization", the Fed restarting its interest rate cut cycle, and continuous gold purchases by central banks, gold became the most dazzling "star asset" of 2025, with a rising trend throughout the year, rising about 65% for the year, once refreshing the historical high to $4549.96/oz, and setting over 50 new highs during the year.
UBS Group: Raises Gold Price Targets for March, June, and September 2026 to $5000 Per Ounce
UBS Group stated it maintains a bullish stance and has raised its gold price targets for March, June, and September 2026 to $5000 per ounce (previously $4500 per ounce). It is expected that by the end of 2026, the gold price will slightly fall to $4800 per ounce.
Based on the above information, the gold market is continuously看好 (viewed optimistically) for the next year. Let's discuss why Tether's gold token XAUT is worth allocating.
4 Major Advantages of XAUT Allocation: High Market Cap, Low Threshold, Good Liquidity, Leverage Available
First, Tether's strong financial support and the gold reserves and sufficient liquidity behind XAUT.
At the beginning of the month, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated that Tether purchased 8888 Bitcoins on New Year's Eve 2025, worth about $780 million. This transaction increased the public Bitcoin holdings of the stablecoin issuer to over 96,000. Tether currently allocates 15% of its quarterly profits regularly to Bitcoin. Additionally, Tether purchased 26 tons of gold in the third quarter of 2025, bringing its total gold holdings to 116 tons, ranking among the top 30 gold holders globally. A market cap of around $2.3 billion is also proof of XAUT's sufficient liquidity.
Second, Tether recently launched a new unit of account "Scudo" for XAUT.
According to official news, Tether officially launched the new计价单位 (unit of account) Scudo for Tether Gold (XAUT). This unit aims to reintroduce gold as a means of payment. 1 Scudo is defined as one-thousandth of a troy ounce of gold or one-thousandth of an XAUT token (approximately $4.4). This move addresses the issue of users needing to handle long decimals when trading or pricing by introducing a simpler计价方式 (pricing method), making gold more practical in daily economic activities. Tether Gold is currently fully backed by physical gold in secure vaults; the introduction of Scudo does not change the structure or backing of XAUT.
Third, XAUT is listed on major mainstream CEX and DEX platforms and supports spot buying or contract leverage operations.
According to Coingecko information, XAUT supports buying and selling on CEXs like Bybit, OKX, Bitget, and DEXs like Uniswap, Fluid, Curve.
Finally, Tether's dominant position in the stablecoin track and the超高利润 (super high profits) from its business operations also provide strong support for the growth and development of XAUT. Its industry application popularity is expected to further increase in 2026.
According to a Bloomberg report citing Artemis Analytics data, global stablecoin transaction volume surged 72% year-on-year in 2025 to a record $33 trillion. Among them, USDC issued by Circle had a transaction volume of $18.3 trillion, ranking first; Tether's USDT had a transaction volume of $13.3 trillion, also maintaining a high level. Together they account for the vast majority of stablecoin trading activity.
Considering the continuous decline in the US dollar to RMB exchange rate, for most ordinary people with relatively limited liquid funds and lower investment risk appetite, converting some fiat currency into the gold token XAUT might be a relatively better solution.
