PAX Gold

Paxos launched PAXG on September 5, 2019 with a simple unit: one token equals one fine troy ounce of London Good Delivery gold. The legal description is more precise than the slogan. The terms compare PAXG to a warehouse receipt and give the holder beneficial ownership of a pro rata portion of allocated gold, including its economic risk and reward. Gold is segregated for holders, and an on-chain address can be matched to a bar's serial number, purity, and gross weight. But Paxos may reshuffle those fractions as tokens move. The holder owns the ounce-equivalent interest; the allocation system, not the token alone, determines which bar represents it at a given moment.

The word redeemable hides three different transactions. A verified Paxos customer may convert PAXG into US dollars, send the ounce value as unallocated Loco London gold to a qualifying gold account, or request allocated physical bars. The third path begins at a minimum of 430 PAXG per London Good Delivery bar, plus fees, extra due diligence if required, and delivery chosen by the customer. Tokens beyond the delivered bar's actual weight return to the account net of fees. A wallet balance therefore carries a gold interest, but direct performance by Paxos still depends on identity, account status, law, market processing, and the chosen exit.

PAXG's ERC-20 mobility does not make its ledger neutral to the issuer. The official repository documents a supply controller, a pause role, an asset-protection role that can freeze and unfreeze addresses and wipe a frozen balance, and a proxy whose implementation can be upgraded. On November 12, 2022, after direction from US federal law enforcement, Paxos froze 11,184.38 PAXG associated with four addresses to which tokens had moved from FTX.com. This was not a break in the gold reserve or an accident caused by PAXG. It was an exercise of the control that the contract and terms already disclosed.

PAXG began under NYDFS approval. Paxos applied in August 2025 to convert its state trust company and completed the move on December 12, 2025 as Paxos Trust Company, National Association, OCC Charter 25379. The OCC decision describes an uninsured national trust bank that does not take deposits. The change matters because the federal supervisor now oversees the issuer, yet it does not transform PAXG into a bank deposit or make Paxos dispensable. Holders still depend on Paxos for custody, allocations, primary conversion, compliance decisions, and token administration; monthly reserve reports test the backing at reporting dates rather than erasing that dependency.

The live fee page reviewed on September 4, 2026 said Paxos charged no gold storage fee. It also showed creation fees waived only through September 30, destruction fees calculated marginally from 0.125% to 0.500% on rolling 30-day net redemption, and a 0.05% fee for conversion into unallocated or allocated gold from September 1. The longer-term terms preserve another possibility: Paxos may fund storage by issuing new PAXG to itself and diluting every holder pro rata, after publishing the method and timing at least 30 days in advance. Current price sheets and reserved contractual powers answer different questions; a careful account needs both.