Tether Pursues $200 Million Raise With Antalpha for Tokenized Gold Treasury Venture

Stablecoin Issuer Expands Beyond USDT With Ambitious Gold-Backed Strategy

TL;DR

• Tether is seeking at least $200 million with Antalpha to launch a tokenized gold treasury company.
• The new vehicle would accumulate Tether Gold (XAUt), already the largest gold-backed token with a $1.5 billion coin market cap.
• The initiative highlights Tether’s growing footprint across gold, bitcoin, payments, and AI while managing $174 billion in USDT supply.

Tether is working with Antalpha on a plan to raise at least $200 million to create a public treasury company that would build reserves of tokenized gold, according to a Bloomberg report cited by CoinDesk and The Block on October 3, 2025. The structure is designed to accumulate Tether Gold (XAUt), the company’s gold-backed digital asset, and expand its reach through custody, lending, and redemption services under an Antalpha-managed hub. Talks remain in the early stages, with discussions focused on how physical gold custody and transaction flows would be managed.

XAUt has established itself as the largest gold-backed token on the market with a coin market cap of roughly $1.5 billion, representing about 250,000 tokens tied to around 7.66 metric tons of London Good Delivery gold. Priced at approximately $3,890.80 per token, it offers investors digital claims that can be redeemed for physical gold held in global vaults. Tether’s June attestation revealed it already holds $8.7 billion in physical gold, underscoring the scale of its commodity-linked backing.

The initiative marks another step in Tether’s effort to diversify beyond stablecoins. The company is best known for issuing USDT, which commands a supply of about $174 billion and is a leading component of the global crypto price index. Alongside gold, Tether has invested across bitcoin mining, payments, energy infrastructure, and artificial intelligence. It has also participated in ventures such as XXI Capital, a bitcoin treasury company backed by SoftBank and Bitfinex, as part of its strategy to align digital assets with hard-asset exposure.

Antalpha’s role goes beyond fundraising. The company, which has ties to Bitmain and a broader crypto mining ecosystem, is developing a Real World Asset hub to facilitate custody, lending, and redemption infrastructure for tokenized gold. Plans include establishing vaults in major financial centers to ensure XAUt can be exchanged for physical bars, offering a bridge between blockchain and tangible commodities. Reports also suggest Antalpha holds an 8.1% stake in the broader digital asset treasury project, binding its incentives to the long-term growth of gold-backed instruments.

The move comes as CEO Paolo Ardoino continues to champion gold as a hard asset within crypto finance. Tether’s ambition reportedly includes fundraising at a valuation as high as $500 billion to scale its expansion. Analysts note the strategy could enhance Tether’s positioning in the crypto price index while offering investors exposure to alternative hard assets beyond bitcoin. Still, questions remain over execution, including custody logistics, regulatory clarity, and how token redemption processes will be standardized across jurisdictions.

Tether’s gold venture reflects a growing push to anchor digital assets in real-world commodities, highlighting both the innovation and complexity of bridging tokenization with traditional markets. With USDT dominating stablecoin circulation and XAUt carving out leadership in gold-backed tokens, the company’s diversification efforts may reshape how physical assets are integrated into the digital financial system.

Tether Gold (XAUt) surpassed a $1 billion market cap on October 1, 2025, fueled by gold prices reaching an all-time high of over $3,800 per ounce. This milestone established a duopoly in the tokenized gold market alongside Paxos Gold (PAXG). XAUt, with over 12,000 holders and a daily trading volume of $23 million, contrasts with PAXG's larger user base of 74,000 holders and $67 million volume.

This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.