Top 11 Gold-Backed Cryptocurrencies to Watch in 2025

The early months of 2025 have ushered in a flurry of changes in financial markets, primarily caused by the new US presidential administration of Donald Trump.

The early months of 2025 have seen a flurry of changes in financial markets, largely brought about by the new US presidential administration of Donald Trump. Drastic cuts to US public spending, the threat of tariff wars and a new paradigm in the relationship between the US and its trading partners have unnerved markets and caused stock prices and investor sentiment to take a hit.

As stocks have dived, the crypto market has also slowed, reflecting the overall negative outlook prevalent among investors across different markets.

The world’s primary precious metal commodity, gold, is surging in an atmosphere of largely declining investor sentiment. This is hardly surprising to anyone familiar with the history of financial markets. The yellow metal has always done well when stocks are getting hammered and the outlook for growth-dependent assets is souring.

As of the time of this writing on Mar 24, 2025, gold’s price has appreciated by around 5% over the past 10 days. This change might seem insignificant to crypto investors, who are used to much more volatile swings in the prices of their assets. Still, it represents a notable weekly jump for gold, an asset known for its price stability and low volatility.

As gold rallies, many in the crypto investment world are turning their attention to a previously unassuming category of the market — gold-backed cryptocurrencies. While the broader crypto market is rather lethargic, cryptocurrencies in this category are posting weekly growth rates that virtually mirror the growth in the price of gold. If you’re a crypto investor looking for a safe harbor in these times of uncertainty, gold-backed tokens might just be the answer. In this article, we’ll cover the top 11 gold-backed cryptos as of Mar 24, 2025, which together make up nearly the entirety of this small category’s total market capitalization.

Key Takeaways:

Gold-backed cryptocurrencies are on-chain assets secured by physical gold reserves held by their issuers or authorized third-party custodians.

Tether Gold (XAUt) and Pax Gold (PAXG) are the leading cryptos in this area, together holding around three-quarters of the niche’s total market capitalization.

What is a gold-backed cryptocurrency?

A gold-backed cryptocurrency is a tokenized digital asset whose value is typically supported by reserves held in gold. In some cases, the token issuer holds the gold reserves used to back the cryptocurrency. In other cases, a third-party trusted custodian maintains the reserves of the underlying physical gold on behalf of the issuer.

The earliest notable gold-backed cryptocurrencies were launched around 2019–2020. Among these are Tether Gold (XAUt), which was introduced in 2020, and Pax Gold (PAXG), which debuted in 2019. Another notable player in this area, Perth Mint Gold Token (PMGT), operated between 2019 and 2023.

Gold-backed cryptos let you turn gold ownership into a more flexible and liquid form for on-chain use, e.g., in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.

Besides buying gold crypto assets as a hedge against the volatile crypto market, you can also trade gold and other asset classes — such as crypto, forex and market indices — via Bybit Gold&FX Trading. This product lets you access multi-asset trading opportunities alongside benefits like high leverages of up to 500x, tight spreads, competitive fees and 24/7 support.

How do gold-backed cryptocurrencies work?

As noted above, gold-backed cryptocurrencies are based on physical gold reserves. The exact mechanics of the reserve maintenance can vary. Some projects store the gold themselves, while others rely on external custodians to handle the storage.

These cryptocurrencies appeal to investors who want crypto exposure, but prefer a real-world asset’s security. Gold serves as an excellent backing for a digital asset, as it’s a well-established and widely respected commodity. During market downturns, as stocks and cryptocurrencies plunge, gold tends to rise in value, potentially lifting gold-backed cryptos up with it.

Like any other asset on the market, gold-backed tokens have unique pros and cons. One con is that in a booming market, they tend to offer lower returns as compared to standard cryptocurrencies or other high-growth assets. Another drawback is the lack of unified regulatory mechanisms to ensure that the gold reserves actually exist, are maintained at the claimed levels and are held by a trustworthy party. Sufficient liquidity can also be an issue for smaller projects.

On the positive side, the biggest advantage of these assets is security during bear markets: as financial markets turn south, gold-backed cryptos are more likely to hold their value than other cryptocurrencies. Another key pro is owning tokens propped up by a real-world asset — an excellent way