Tether, issuer of the most popular stablecoin in the world has acquired a $150 million minority stake in Gold.com (GOLD), strengthening its presence in the gold market just as the yellow metal gains traction with investors seeking stability in volatile times.
The investment, announced in a blog post on Thursday, gives Tether a 12% stake in Gold.com, a platform that provides access to both physical and tokenized gold. As part of the partnership, Tether will integrate XAUT, its gold-backed token, into Gold.com’s infrastructure.
The companies will also explore the possibility of purchasing physical gold using Tether’s US dollar stablecoin USDT and its recently launched US stablecoin, USAT.
Gold.com’s publicly traded shares rose 6% after trading hours on Thursday.
Tether’s investment follows a sharp rise in gold prices, which surpassed $5,000 per ounce last week. At the same time, the market for blockchain-based gold tokens has also exploded from $1.3 billion to over $5.5 billion. Tether’s XAUT token currently represents over 60% of the tokenized gold market and is backed one-to-one by physical gold held in Swiss vaults.
“Gold has played a central role in preserving value for centuries, particularly during times of currency stress and geopolitical uncertainty,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether.
“Exposure to gold is not a trade for Tether,” he added. “This is a long-term hedge and allocation to protect our user base and ourselves in a world that is becoming increasingly unstable.”
Earlier on Thursday, Tether also announced an investment in Anchorage Digital, a crypto bank regulated by the US federal government and a key partner in the USAT rollout.
