The tokenized commodities sector has surged 53% in under six weeks to exceed $6.1 billion, making it the fastest-growing segment within the real-world asset (RWA) tokenization market as increasing amounts of gold move onchain.
At the beginning of the year, the market was valued at just over $4 billion, meaning roughly $2 billion in value has been added since Jan. 1, according to data from crypto analytics platform Token Terminal.
Figures indicate that gold-based products account for the vast majority of the tokenized commodities market.
Tether’s gold-backed token, Tether Gold (XAUt), has driven much of the recent growth, with its market capitalization climbing 51.6% over the past month to $3.6 billion. Meanwhile, Paxos-issued PAX Gold has risen 33.2% during the same period, reaching $2.3 billion.
Tokenized commodities have surged 360% year-over-year, with growth since the start of 2026 outpacing gains in other real-world asset categories. Over the same period, tokenized stocks have grown 42%, while tokenized funds have increased just 3.6%.
Despite the rapid expansion, the tokenized commodities market — now valued at just over $6 billion — remains smaller than the $17.2 billion tokenized funds sector, though it is significantly larger than tokenized stocks, which stand at $538 million.
On Thursday, Tether expanded its push into tokenized commodities by acquiring a $150 million stake in precious metals marketplace Gold.com, aiming to increase access to tokenized gold products. The company said its XAUt token will be integrated into Gold.com’s platform and that it is exploring options to enable customers to purchase physical gold using its USDt stablecoin.
Gold Gains Momentum as Bitcoin Lags
The growth in tokenized gold coincides with a strong rally in the physical metal. Gold’s spot price has climbed more than 80% over the past year, reaching a record high of $5,600 on Jan. 29.
After briefly pulling back to around $4,700 earlier this month, gold has since rebounded to approximately $5,050 at the time of writing.
In contrast, Bitcoin and the broader crypto market have struggled since Oct. 10, when a market crash triggered $19 billion in liquidations. Bitcoin fell 52.4% from its early October peak of $126,080 to roughly $60,000 on Friday before recovering to $69,050, according to CoinGecko data.
Bitcoin’s decline alongside a rally in traditional safe-haven assets has prompted some industry observers, including Strike CEO Jack Mallers, to argue that the asset continues to trade more like a technology stock than “hard money.”
Crypto asset manager Grayscale echoed that view, saying Bitcoin’s long-standing “digital gold” narrative is being tested, with recent price movements resembling those of a high-risk growth asset rather than a conventional safe haven.
