Tether, issuer of the world’s most popular stablecoin has acquired a $150 million minority stake in Gold.com (GOLD), ramping up its push into the gold market as the yellow metal gains traction with investors seeking stability in volatile times.
The investment, announced Thursday in a blog post, gives Tether a 12% stake in Gold.com, a platform that provides access to both physical and tokenized gold. As part of the partnership, Tether will integrate XAUT, its gold-backed token, into Gold.com’s infrastructure.
The companies will also explore the possibility of buying physical gold using Tether’s US dollar stablecoin USDT and its recently launched US-regulated stablecoin, USAT.
Gold.com’s publicly traded shares rose 6% after Thursday’s market hours.
Tether’s investment follows a steep rise in gold prices, which topped $5,000 an ounce last week. Meanwhile, the market for blockchain-based gold tokens also soared, growing from $1.3 billion to more than $5.5 billion. Tether’s XAUT token currently makes up over 60% of the tokenized gold market and is backed one-to-one by physical gold held in Swiss vaults.
“Gold has played a central role in preserving value for centuries, especially during periods of monetary stress and geopolitical uncertainty,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether.
“Gold exposure is not a trade for Tether,” he added. “It’s a hedge and a long-term allocation to protect our user base and ourselves in an increasingly volatile world.”
Earlier Thursday, Tether also announced an investment in Anchorage Digital, a US federally regulated crypto bank and key partner in the rollout of USAT.
