Can XAUT hedge against the depreciation of gold against the US dollar? Tether Gold Token Allocation Guide

The decline of the US dollar exchange rate has become the new normal in the capital markets by 2026. Driven by the global “de-dollarization” wave, the depreciation trend of gold against the US dollar has brought new opportunities to traditional asset allocation. Compared to the high barriers of traditional gold investment, allocating through gold tokens like XAUT issued by Tether is gradually becoming a new option for crypto investors to hedge risks and respond to exchange rate fluctuations.

Why Choose XAUT When Gold Against the US Dollar Weakens?

In the context of the dollar appreciation cycle being broken and central banks around the world continuously buying gold, the hedging properties of gold assets are highlighted. Especially in an environment where gold against the US dollar continues to depreciate, choosing a highly liquid, low-threshold, and easy-to-trade gold allocation tool becomes crucial.

XAUT, as a token fully backed by physical gold, offers a relatively convenient solution. Each XAUT represents 1 troy ounce of physical gold stored in secure vaults. Tether’s recently launched new pricing unit, “Scudo,” further lowers the barrier to entry—1 Scudo is approximately equal to 0.001 XAUT (about $4.4), allowing gold asset allocation that previously required thousands of dollars to start with just a few dollars.

For ordinary investors with limited liquidity and lower risk appetite, this low-threshold gold token allocation undoubtedly provides a relatively better asset allocation option.

Market Momentum Confirmation: Why Gold Assets Continue to Attract Funds

The gold price trend over the past year fully verifies the value of gold as a core asset. In 2025, spot gold rose by as much as 65%, setting a new all-time high, with new highs recorded in 53 trading days. On December 31, spot gold closed at $4,318.65 per ounce. Although it pulled back from the year’s high, its upward momentum remains strong.

The continuous rise in gold prices is due to multiple factors:

Policy Support: Major decisions by the US Supreme Court on tariff policies could profoundly change the US trade policy landscape, potentially providing a support for gold prices. Geopolitical risks (such as recent US actions in Venezuela) also continue to provide safe-haven demand for gold.

Capital Inflows: Investment in gold ETFs worldwide reached a historic high. North American funds contributed the majority of global capital inflows, while gold holdings in Asia nearly doubled, and demand in Europe also increased significantly.

Central Bank Support: Continuous gold purchases by central banks provide long-term underlying support for gold prices.

International investment institutions are also optimistic about gold’s outlook. UBS has recently raised its gold price targets for Q1, Q2, and Q3 of 2026 to $5,000 per ounce (previously $4,500), expecting the gold price to be around $4,800 per ounce by the end of the year. This further confirms gold’s role as a hedging asset in 2026.

Four Major Advantages of XAUT Allocation

Compared to traditional gold investment, choosing XAUT for gold asset allocation has obvious advantages:

Advantage 1: Tether’s Financial Strength and Sufficient Gold Reserves

As the world’s largest stablecoin issuer, Tether has strong financial backing. CEO Paolo Ardoino announced that Tether purchased 8,888 Bitcoin during the 2025 New Year, worth about $780 million, and publicly holds over 96,000 Bitcoin.

More importantly, Tether is actively building a multi-asset reserve portfolio. The company allocates 15% of quarterly profits to Bitcoin and purchased 26 tons of gold in Q3 2025, bringing its total gold holdings to 116 tons, ranking among the top 30 global gold holders. These physical reserves provide a solid foundation for the credit backing of XAUT.

Currently, XAUT’s market cap is about $2.3 billion, ensuring sufficient liquidity with its scale.

Advantage 2: Launch of the New Pricing Unit “Scudo”

Tether officially launched the new pricing unit “Scudo” for Tether Gold, an important innovation in the gold token space. Scudo is defined as one-thousandth of a troy ounce of gold or one-thousandth of an XAUT, priced at about $4.4.

This design cleverly solves the pain points in traditional gold token trading—users no longer need to handle lengthy decimal places when pricing, trading, or paying, greatly enhancing the usability of gold as a daily payment method. The launch of Scudo does not change the structure or gold backing of XAUT but introduces a more user-friendly pricing scheme.

Advantage 3: Multi-Chain and Multi-Platform Liquidity Deployment

XAUT is listed on major global trading platforms. According to CoinGecko data, XAUT supports trading on large centralized exchanges such as Bybit, OKX, Bitget, and others, as well as decentralized exchanges like Uniswap, Fluid, Curve, and more.

This multi-platform deployment ensures investors can choose trading scenarios flexibly—whether for spot buying and holding or leveraging through derivatives—meeting different risk preferences.

Advantage 4: Leading Position in the Stablecoin Sector

Tether’s dominant position in the global stablecoin market provides strong support for the growth of XAUT. According to Bloomberg citing Artemis Analytics, in 2025, global stablecoin trading volume surged by 72% year-over-year to a record $33 trillion. Among them, Tether’s USDT trading volume was $13.3 trillion, and Circle’s USDC was $18.3 trillion, together accounting for the vast majority of stablecoin trading activity.

Tether’s high profitability and leadership in the stablecoin sector are expected to further enhance XAUT’s industry adoption in 2026.

New Options for Ordinary Investors’ Gold Allocation

In the current environment, traditional investors face a dilemma: how to effectively allocate gold assets for asset protection amid a declining dollar and weakening gold against the dollar?

Traditional gold investment involves high minimum investments (usually thousands of dollars), storage costs, and liquidity restrictions. In contrast, allocating through XAUT effectively avoids these pain points. Especially after the launch of Scudo, investors with just a few dollars or even tens of dollars can participate in gold asset allocation.

For most people with lower risk tolerance and limited liquidity, converting part of their fiat currency into gold tokens like XAUT can both hedge risks and enjoy the liquidity convenience of crypto assets. This is undoubtedly a relatively balanced choice to cope with the environment of gold’s depreciation against the dollar.

Facing the ongoing economic uncertainties and exchange rate fluctuations expected in 2026, the importance of gold allocation is increasingly evident. As an important tool within the Tether ecosystem, XAUT is gradually becoming a key bridge connecting traditional asset hedging needs with innovative crypto finance.