Tether and Coinbase moved differently as spot gold jumped above $5,300 an ounce this week, peaking at $5,311 on Wednesday, according to TradingView data.
Tether added to its bullion holdings while Coinbase pushed access to metal futures for traders.
Tether reported $12 billion in gold exposure as of September 2025 in an independent opinion (report).
The firm holds 520,089 troy ounces for XAUT and a broader reserve of about 130 metric tons, worth roughly $22 billion, per its disclosure and a company spokesperson, who said “Tether maintains approximately 130 metric tons of physical gold, and the gold backing every XAUT token is held separately, making it eligible for physical delivery redemption.”
Paolo Ardoino framed the holdings as large on a national scale, saying in an interview that “We are soon becoming basically one of the biggest, let’s say, gold central banks in the world,” as reported by Bloomberg.
Data comparisons reference reserves from the World Gold Council.
Coinbase reminded customers it offers metal futures on its platform, with Brian Armstrong posting that “You can trade precious metals on Coinbase,” and that “Silver, gold, copper and platinum futures are available on Coinbase,” via his post (Ed. note: futures contracts typically do not include physical delivery).
Spot gold is up about 90% over the past year while Bitcoin fell roughly 13% and traded near $89,351, per CoinGecko.
The U.S. dollar index has declined about 10.7% over the same period, according to TradingView.
