The World Gold Council (WGC), partnering with Boston Consulting Group (BCG), has unveiled a proposal for a shared digital platform to modernize how gold is used in digital finance. In a white paper called “Gold as a Service,” the organizations outline a common infrastructure to support issuing and operating scalable, interoperable tokenized gold products.
The proposed platform would connect physical bullion custody with the digital systems that mint and manage tokens. It aims to standardize functions such as custody coordination, reconciliation, compliance checks and redemption processes. According to the WGC, a common layer of services could cut operational complexity, widen access and bring greater consistency to digital gold offerings.
Today’s crypto-native tokenized gold products, including Tether Gold (XAUT) and Pax Gold (PAXG), each use their own custody, compliance and redemption arrangements. The WGC’s standard seeks to make tokenized gold more appealing to institutional users by building in assurance and auditability, boosting fungibility between products, enabling interoperability with existing financial rails and enhancing liquidity for borrowing and lending markets.
WGC CEO David Tait said that as financial services digitize rapidly, gold must evolve to stay relevant. He argued that shared infrastructure can make gold easier to access, trade and integrate into modern financial systems while preserving its long-standing role. Matthias Tauber, managing director and senior partner at BCG, added that the question is no longer whether gold will be digitized but how to integrate it into contemporary finance without undermining its physical integrity.
Tokenized commodities, including gold, represent roughly $5.5 billion — about 20% of the on-chain value of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), according to RWA.xyz. The broader tokenized RWA market has seen rapid expansion, with reported growth of about 340% year-over-year amid rising demand for gold. Market data from CoinGecko indicate Tether’s tokenized gold product has a market capitalization near $2.6 billion (up about 17% over the past 12 months), while Pax Gold’s market cap is around $2.3 billion.
Activity in the sector continues to increase: crypto exchange Bybit recently introduced a yield-bearing tokenized gold product that lets users earn interest on holdings of Tether Gold.
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