"Poor man's gold" counterattacks! Tokenized silver has surpassed Bitcoin by 517%

Silver broke through a new high of $117, rising 517% to surpass Bitcoin by 500%, with a market capitalization of $6.18 trillion, the second in the world. Tokenized silver $4.46 billion, with the main targets KAG and SLVON. Hyperliquid has a daily volume of 10 billion, and Binance’s 100x leverage has a daily volume of 1.32 billion. Trump tariffs, critical minerals, and interest rate cut expectations drove the rally.

The 517% increase surpassed Bitcoin’s silver frenzy

Silver, a precious metal asset once known as the “poor man’s gold,” is taking the global market by storm. There is no other reason, just because it is a terrifying rise. Recently, the price of silver once exceeded $117 per ounce, hitting a record high. As a result, silver has officially surpassed Bitcoin’s gains (about 517%) and gold (just under 300%) with a cumulative increase of about 517% since the high point of the crypto cycle in 2017.

According to data from the 8MarketCap website, the price of silver is currently trading at around $110, with a market capitalization of $6.18 trillion, ranking second in the world after gold (approximately $18 trillion). This market capitalization exceeds all cryptocurrencies combined (approximately $3.2 trillion) and also surpasses the market capitalization of tech giants such as Apple and Microsoft. Such an amazing trend naturally aroused the enthusiasm of the market.

In addition to buying silver funds and physical silver through traditional brokerages or offline stores, tokenized silver may also be an option, especially leveraged contracts on trading platforms and on-chain Perp DEX. According to data from the Coingecko website, the overall market value of the tokenized silver sector is temporarily reported at around $4.46 billion, with a 24-hour increase of about 5.6%. This size, while much smaller than the silver spot market, is growing at an astonishing rate, indicating an influx of TradFi funds and crypto-native funds into the space.

Why did silver suddenly explode? Claudio Wewel, strategist at J. Safra Sarasin, pointed out that the continued surge in silver prices stems from the weakening market expectations for US interest rate cuts and silver’s newly acquired critical mineral status. The U.S. Department of the Interior added silver to the list of critical minerals in November, increasing the likelihood of U.S. tariffs on the metal. He pointed out that this has exacerbated the long-term supply tightness and prompted US importers to accelerate their silver purchases.

At the same time, retail investors are turning to silver as a safe-haven asset because the price of gold is at an all-time high (about $3,700 per ounce). This substitution effect of “gold is too expensive to buy silver” has occurred many times in history, when the gold-silver ratio (gold price/silver price) exceeds 80, silver is often seen as “super value” and attracts capital inflows. The current gold-silver ratio is around 33 (3,700/110), which is at an all-time low, indicating that silver is no longer cheap compared to gold, but the absolute price is still much lower than gold, making it more suitable for small investors.

In other words, silver’s main rise comes from both “scarcity” and “risk aversion”, combined with the recent renewed tension in the Middle East (the US aircraft carrier strike group enters the Persian Gulf), the price end of silver may be far from here.

KAG vs SLVON: Two major tokenized silver comparisons

Specifically, the silver tokens with relatively good liquidity are the following 2. Kinesis Silver (KAG) has a market capitalization of $4.06 billion, and like the gold token KAU, the KAG silver token was launched by Kinesi, a British digital asset utility platform registered in the Cayman Islands, and the main trading platforms include Kinesis Money, BitMart, and Emirex in the UAE.

It is understood that KAG is guaranteed by a fully insured and regularly audited vault (global distributed storage), with each token anchored to 1 ounce of investment-grade silver; Support global real-time payments; supports physical silver redemption; No storage fees. Its advantage lies in the possibility of redeeming physical silver, a feature that SLVON does not have. For investors looking to eventually hold physical silver, KAG offers a complete path from digital to physical.

Its potential risks are similar to those of Tether, the company that issued the XAUT gold token, which is highly dependent on the issuer’s asset credibility and faces certain regulatory uncertainties. In addition, due to the small market capitalization and relatively average market depth, market fluctuations may lead to premiums or discounts, and rely more on the trading platform to manage matching orders. But in any case, data from the Coingecko website shows that KAG’s 24-hour trading volume is about $550, which is already the second largest trading volume in the silver token market.

The market value of iShares Silver Trust (SLVON) is temporarily reported at US$3,950, and the silver token anchored by the iShares Silver Trust launched by Ondo Finance holds the corresponding physical silver through the BlackRock iShares Silver Trust (SLV) ETF. Its advantages lie in tracking regulated traditional SLV ETFs, which have good liquidity and support instant minting or redemption (for non-US users). Combining traditional finance and blockchain convenience; institutional-level endorsements; No need to directly handle physical silver.

Its potential risk is that it mainly relies on the asset reputation of issuers such as BlackRock and Ondo, and cannot support physical silver ownership or direct redemption; Includes certain ETF fund management fee costs; U.S. users are restricted from trading and face potential securities regulatory restrictions. The main trading platforms include centralized trading platforms such as Gate, Bitmart, Bitget, AscendEX, etc. It is worth mentioning that SLVON also supports futures trading, with up to 10x leverage trading. According to data from the Coingecko website, SLVON’s 24-hour trading volume is approximately $2,120, ranking first in the silver token market.

KAG vs SLVON comparison

Market capitalization: KAG’s $4.06 billion far exceeded SLVON’s $39.5 million

Daily trading volume: $2,120K on SLVON is 4x KAG’s $550K (better liquidity)

In-kind redemption:KAG supported, SLVON does not

Leverage trading:SLVON supports 10x, KAG does not

Endorsement: SLVON has BlackRock and Ondo, and KAG relies on its own reputation

Hyperliquid vs. Binance’s Leverage Battleground

! [Hyperliquid tokenized silver trend] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-87a9b3933a-7eb56980c9-8b7abd-e2c905.webp)

(Source: Hyperliquid)

In addition to spot silver tokens, many U.S. stock tokenized trading platforms and on-chain Perp DEXs, CEXs, and DEXs have opened trading on silver-related leveraged contracts, supporting up to 20-100x leverage. The 24-hour trading volume of the Hyperliquid silver/USDC contract trading pair exceeded $10M, an astonishing result for a decentralized derivatives exchange, indicating extremely strong demand for silver leveraged contracts among on-chain traders.

Binance supports leveraged trading for the XAG/USDT trading pair, with up to 100x leverage. Currently, the 24-hour trading volume is $13.2M. According to the official announcement, the transaction was officially opened on January 7 (at that time, the official announcement showed that it supported up to 50x leverage), and then upgraded to 100x. The latest news shows that Binance will change the price index composition of the gold token XAU/USDT contract on January 29, 2026, indicating that Binance is optimizing its precious metals contract product line.

100x leverage means extremely high risk and reward. If silver rises by 1%, the 100x leveraged position will make a profit of 100%; However, if it falls by 1%, the position will be completely liquidated. This extreme leverage attracts a large number of speculators but also leads to frequent liquidation events. Investors should be extremely cautious, and it is recommended to participate only with small positions and set strict stops.

The double ignition effect of Trump’s policies

Looking back, the international political and economic tensions caused by Trump’s coming to power, the tariff and trade war, and the preference for the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut are the best accelerants for the rise in precious metal prices. Trump’s policies have a dual impact on silver: geopolitical tensions and trade wars drive safe-haven demand, while expectations of interest rate cuts reduce the opportunity cost of holding interest-free assets like silver.

The decision by the U.S. Department of the Interior to include silver in the Critical Minerals List in November 2025 is particularly critical. This means that silver is regarded as a strategic resource for national security and economic security, and is as important as minerals such as rare earths, lithium, and cobalt. This decision increases the likelihood of U.S. tariffs on silver imports, prompting U.S. companies to accelerate their procurement and hoarding, driving up demand. At the same time, industrial demand for silver in new energy and high-tech fields such as solar panels, electric vehicle batteries, and 5G communications continues to grow, and supply tightness intensifies.

Combined with the recent renewed tension in the Middle East, the price end of silver may be far from here. If Trump continues to pressure the Fed to cut interest rates, a weaker dollar will further push up the price of dollar-denominated silver. For TradFi investors and crypto traders, tokenized silver offers an emerging asset class that offers both safe-haven and speculative attributes.