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Rachel Wolfson
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Tokenized gold is experiencing rapid growth as data from CoinGecko shows the market now exceeds $4 billion in value, with expectations of major expansion in the years ahead
Although both retail and institutional investor interest is rising, emerging markets are likely to fuel the latest wave of digital gold adoption. In regions facing persistent currency devaluation, high inflation, limited banking infrastructure, and economic uncertainty, the fusion of gold with blockchain technology is evolving from a niche innovation into a financial lifeline.
Tokenized gold products, such as PAX Gold (PAXG) and Tether Gold (XAUt), support savings, investing, and wealth protection without the need for substantial capital or traditional bank accounts. For developing economies, this model not only offers an accessible store of value but also opens doors to broader financial inclusion.
Tokenized Gold Expands To Emerging Markets
A number of digital asset platforms are therefore focused on bringing gold-backed savings and investment products to specific regions.
Global Settlement Holdings Inc. (GSX) announced on Dec. 10 a strategic partnership with digital finance company Ubuntu Tribe to bring over $5 billion worth of gold on-chain. GSX will build on top of Ubuntu Tribe’s GIFT token, a fully regulated and MiCA-compliant gold-backed token. The collaboration aims to expand gold‑backed savings and investment products across African markets and the European Union.
Ryan Kirkley, chief executive officer of GSX, told Cryptonews that GSX and Ubuntu Tribe will establish an interoperable digital asset and payments framework that reduces reliance on slow correspondent banking.
Sources note that sending $200 to Sub‑Saharan Africa still costs around 8% on average. In addition, one‑third of cross‑border retail payments take more than a day to settle and come with high fees.
“The framework we are building with Ubuntu Tribe will significantly improve settlement speeds and reduce FX friction for SMEs, exporters, and diaspora communities,” Kirkley said.
Tokenized Gold For FX Swaps and Liquidity
Mamadou Kwidjim Toure, CEO of Ubuntu Tribe, told Cryptonews that Ubuntu Tribe allows fractional ownership of gold from 1 gram, giving consumers mobile access to regulated, auditable gold. The tokenized gold is stored in an MPC‑secured “Utribe Wallet,” connecting users to gold‑backed savings, stablecoins, and decentralized finance features.
“We have already surpassed $10 million in transaction volume, with continued growth anticipated,” Kwidjim Toure said.
GSX’s stablecoin (SDGX), along with a universal stablecoin framework, will then allow instant FX swaps and liquidity pools. This seeks to reduce settlement times from days to seconds for businesses and diaspora remittances.
“Within the next 12 months, a pilot implementation will be launched for gold traceability and a cross‑border FX corridor. The pilot will also explore integration with regulated sandbox environments in priority African markets,” Kirkley said.
While this use case is still emerging, the notion behind sending tokenized gold overseas appears to be catching on. Daniel Ahmed, COO and co-founder of crypto banking platform Fasset, told Cryptonews that Fasset’s user data demonstrates the growing popularity of directing a portion of salaries into tokenized gold to hedge against depreciation or to diversify income.
“This same infrastructure lets overseas workers convert income into tokenized gold and send it across borders in a single transaction, an endeavor banks and gold exchange-traded funds struggle to match on cost or speed,” Ahmed stated.
Tokenized Gold As a Savings Vehicle
Ahmed added that Fasset data shows that some Asian countries’ user salaries are being received in stablecoins and then moved directly into tokenized assets as part of routine saving and wealth preservation habits.
Opera browser and The Celo Foundation—stewards of the Layer-2 Celo blockchain—are also demonstrating this use case with MiniPay.
MiniPay is an app that allows Opera users to easily make stablecoin transactions. MiniPay recently added support for XAUt0—the omnichain deployment of Tether Gold—to let users move beyond traditional stablecoins to gold-backed, real-world assets (RWAs).
Rene Reinsberg, Celo co-founder and President of Celo Foundation, told Cryptonews that XAUt0 allows people worldwide to buy and hold even fractionalized quantities of gold with sub-cent transaction costs.
“Adding XAUT0 to MiniPay enables those who have not previously had access, especially in cost-accessible quantities, to hold and save,” Reinsberg said. “The demand is already clear, as we have seen over 30,000 users in the weeks since launch, largely driven by users throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.”
Reinsberg added that rather than sending cross-border payments, MiniPay users are leveraging XAUt0 for savings.
“While stablecoins are used for both sending and saving, gold is primarily used for savings,” he said. “It offers MiniPay users a way to diversify their holdings beyond US Dollar-denominated stablecoins, another means to combat hyperinflation through easy on-ramping and swapping into XAUt0.”
Education and Regulations May Create Challenges
Although it’s clear that tokenized gold is being leveraged more often in emerging markets, regulatory uncertainty and educational limitations may create challenges.
For instance, Yaroslav Patsira, fractional director at cryptocurrency exchange CEX.IO, told Cryptonews that the biggest hurdle is regulatory confusion.
“Because tokenized gold is both a digital asset and represents a physical commodity, different countries classify it differently. This makes it difficult for companies to operate across borders and for investors to know their rights,” he pointed out.
Additionally, Patsira noted there’s custodial risk associated with tokenized gold. “When you buy tokenized gold, a third party must actually store the physical gold somewhere, and a user has to trust they’re doing it properly.”
A lack of industry standards further complicates the task of comparing different tokenized gold products to determine which ones are reliable.
On the flip side, Patsira explained that some African regulators are more receptive to tokenized commodities like gold rather than cryptocurrencies.
“Countries like Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa have started creating specific frameworks for digital assets, with regulators showing a preference for tokens backed by real-world assets because they may fit better into existing financial regulations. As these regulatory frameworks mature and become more standardized across countries, adoption barriers should gradually decrease,” he said.
