Tokenized Gold Market Hits Record $1.4B Amid Surging Demand and Stablecoin Growth

The market capitalization of tokenized gold soared to a record $1.4 billion in March, driven by increased investor demand and gold prices reaching all-time highs above $3,000 per ounce, according to CoinDesk Data’s latest stablecoin report.

Tether’s gold-backed XAUT and Paxos’ PAXG continue to dominate the sector, with respective market caps of $749 million and $653 million. Trading activity also surged, with gold-backed tokens seeing over $1.6 billion in volume—the highest in more than a year.

Meanwhile, the broader stablecoin market expanded for the 18th straight month, surpassing $231 billion in total capitalization.

USDT, the largest stablecoin, hit a record supply of $144 billion. However, its dominance slipped to 62.1%, its lowest level since March 2023, as competition in the sector intensified. USDC, the second-largest stablecoin, grew by 7% in market cap, nearing $60 billion.

Ethena’s recently launched USDtb, backed by BlackRock’s tokenized money market fund BUIDL, quickly amassed over $1 billion in assets, making it the eighth-largest stablecoin.

In trading activity on centralized exchanges, USDT maintained a dominant 75.7% share among the top 10 stablecoins, despite a slight decline. Meanwhile, USDC and FDUSD (issued by Hong Kong-based First Digital) gained ground, reaching 13.6% and 10% of trading market cap, respectively.

Regulatory shifts in the European stablecoin market also made waves, as exchanges moved to comply with the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. Kraken, Coinbase, and Crypto.com delisted non-compliant stablecoins for European users.

Circle’s EURC stablecoin emerged as a key beneficiary of these changes, surging nearly 30% in market cap to $157 million and capturing a 45% share of the euro-backed stablecoin market.