Overview
- PAXG trades near $5.4k with a market cap around $2.6 billion and XAUT hovers near $5.32k with a market cap about $3.0 billion, each up roughly 1–2% as BTC, ETH and SOL slip.
- CoinGecko flagged PAXG and XAUT among the most viewed tokens during the U.S.–Israeli conflict with Iran, reflecting safe-haven flows described by traders as a “gold panic bid.”
- Sector value surpassed $6 billion by February 2026 after adding nearly $2 billion early this year, with 2025 turnover hitting $178 billion and Q4 volumes outpacing the top five gold ETFs combined.
- Market structure remains concentrated, with XAUT, PAXG and KAU accounting for roughly 97% of capitalization, led by XAUT’s liquidity and PAXG’s NYDFS-supervised issuance and audits.
- EU MiCA now treats tokenized gold as Asset-Referenced Tokens requiring full backing, quarterly audits and independent custody with a July 1, 2026 authorization deadline, while Singapore’s Project Guardian and new licensing rules, plus Eurosystem DLT-collateral access from March 30, 2026, raise compliance bars that could spur consolidation.