Tether Launches Scudo XAUT Unit as Gold Prices Hit Record Highs

January 7, 2026 Brazen Crypto Team Tether 0

One Scudo equals 1/1,000 of a XAUT token, which is backed by over 1,300 gold bars held in custody with roughly $2.3 billion in market capitalization.

Tether News

Tether introduced a new accounting unit Tuesday called Scudo for its XAUT gold-backed token as institutional demand and central bank purchases push precious metals to historic levels. Each Scudo represents one-thousandth of a troy ounce of physical gold.

The stablecoin issuer designed Scudo to lower barriers for fractional gold ownership through blockchain technology. One Scudo equals 1/1,000 of a XAUT token, which is backed by over 1,300 gold bars held in custody with roughly $2.3 billion in market capitalization.

Tether stated the unit addresses historical constraints around storage, custody, and divisibility that have limited direct gold ownership. While XAUT already tokenized physical gold, Scudo aims to simplify smaller on-chain transactions backed by the metal.

The company positioned the move as making gold more transactable on digital infrastructure rather than serving only as a long-term store of value. CEO Paolo Ardoino described gold as the ultimate store of value alongside Bitcoin following a record-breaking year for bullion prices climbing above $4,550 per troy ounce.

Ardoino compared Scudo to satoshis, the smallest Bitcoin unit, in a social media post. The structure mirrors how Bitcoin’s smallest denomination enables easier transactions in readable units.

Precious metals posted record performance in 2025 with gold rising roughly 65% amid de-dollarization efforts, aggressive central bank purchases, and persistent inflation concerns. Silver climbed more than 140% during the year to reach about $80 per troy ounce.


Economist Peter Schiff described the surge as investors preparing for what he called the greatest inflation in U.S. history, despite recent Consumer Price Index readings showing moderating trends. Gold’s advance highlighted divergence with Bitcoin, which finished the year lower with limited safe-haven demand evidence.

The contrast proved particularly pronounced in the fourth quarter following broad deleveraging triggered by the Oct. 10 market crash. Demand for tokenized gold tracked the shift as the sector’s market cap approached its late-2025 peak with investors seeking on-chain exposure to traditional safe-haven assets.

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