Gold, a natural store of value, has gradually crept closer to $3,000 and is currently trading above $2,700, setting new all-time highs in the process.
As the yellow metal rises, capital flows into the digital alternative Bitcoin, potentially pushing the world’s most valuable coin above $74,000.
3 tons of gold tokenized
Gold and Bitcoin have their advantages, but some holders seem to be interested in both because they prefer the calmer liquidity of BTC.
A recent analysis by Arcam, a blockchain intelligence company, revealed that over $250 million of Tether gold is stored in a single wallet. In the real world, this tokenized stash would weigh approximately 3 tons.
Whale holds 3 tons worth of gold on-chain | Source: @ArkhamIntel (via X)
For now, the ownership of this tokenized stash remains unknown. However, Arkham uses AI to deduce that the three tons of gold belong to RhinoFi. According to on-chain data, the layer 2 bridge processed $2.3 billion worth of assets from more than 48.8 million transactions. We currently bridge 31 chains and connect over 2 million accounts.
Tether Gold is technically a stablecoin that tracks the value of real-world gold. As of October 22, over 246,520 digital gold tokens have been minted on Ethereum. According to Ethplorer, 2,618 token holders have made over 39,500 transfers.
Tether Gold Price Trends Up on Daily Chart | Source: OKX, XAUTUSDT on TradingView
While it is not immediately possible to determine whether RhinoFi controls nearly 50% of all Tether Gold in circulation, tokenization is gaining momentum. The success of US dollar-backed stablecoins like USDT and USDC and their widespread adoption, especially in emerging economies, explains why they are here to stay.
BlackRock is confident, more than $2.4 billion in US debt, bonds exist on-chain
Converting real-world assets into tokens on a public ledger such as Ethereum or Polygon allows users to easily transfer and publish them. BlackRock’s CEO predicts the tokenization market will be worth trillions of dollars over the next few years.
Coingecko data shows that over $7.9 billion of assets have been tokenized. Most are included in Ondo, Pendol, and Mantra. Besides Tether Gold, there are other tokenized alternatives such as Pax Gold and Quorium.
In addition to gold, real estate and US government bonds were also tokenized. BlackRock, one of the world’s largest asset management companies, is currently issuing BUIDL on Ethereum.
Over $2.4 billion worth of government bonds tokenized | Source: rwa.xyz
Looking at rwa.xyz data, $2.4 billion worth of U.S. government bonds, bonds, and other cash equivalents have been tokenized. BlackRock’s BUIDL currently manages over $550 million in tokenized treasury.
Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView
