Tether Gold

Tether Gold launched on January 23, 2020 with a precise legal promise: each token represented one fine troy ounce on a specific bar, not a generic pool-value claim. Serial number, purity and weight connected the digital balance to allocated metal in Switzerland.

Transfers introduced an unusual moving part. To minimize the number of bars attached to each address, Tether Gold may reallocate fractional bar interests after a token moves. The holder keeps a specific gold interest, but not necessarily the same bar serial number forever.

The first Ethereum address from the launch is no longer canonical. On November 8, 2021, Tether completed a migration to 0x68749665FF8D2d112Fa859AA293F07A622782F38 and reinstated most balances. Twenty smart-contract holders had to request manual swaps.

The current Ethereum address is an upgradeable proxy. Its token-contract administrator (owner), recorded in the proxy’s token state, can mint, burn tokens held at that administrator’s address for redemption, block addresses and destroy blocked balances. Ordinary token holders do not receive these powers. A separate proxy administrator can replace the implementation code. Gold allocation is a legal and custody arrangement, while these are the operational levers that make the token ledger conform to issuance, redemption and enforcement decisions.

Effective January 27, 2025, TG Commodities Limited redomiciled from the British Virgin Islands to El Salvador and took the name TG Commodities, S.A. de C.V. The Salvadoran company is the current customer-facing issuer and redeemer, authorized there as a stablecoin issuer and digital asset service provider.

The document also draws the custody boundary. Tether Gold does not hold legal title to the reserves; a related but separately operated Swiss custodian holds them for token holders, with Tether Gold acting as their contractual representative. The risk disclosure says a holder can retain legal title to the allocated interest during custodian insolvency, yet may pay to recover it; if allocation software fails, the holder may instead become an unsecured custodian creditor without a specific-bar right.

A verified customer can buy directly from 50 XAU₮, paying 0.25%; account verification separately requires a non-refundable 150 USD-in-Tethers deposit. Physical redemption works in full bars, so the customer is generally asked for at least 430 XAU₮ before adjustment to the actual bar, commonly about 385–415 fine ounces. Redemption costs 0.25% plus delivery or brokerage costs; a requested Swiss-market sale is only an attempt, not an issuer repurchase promise.

This gap explains the product’s two scales. Secondary buyers can trade tiny fractions, but the contractual route to metal is institutional in size and subject to KYC, location, fees and the issuer’s right to delay, reject or suspend a request.

Tether announced XAU₮ availability on BNB Chain on March 26, 2026 through USDt0 interoperability. The June 30 report reconciled ledgers across blockchains into one aggregate 707,747.090000-XAU₮ circulation figure against 707,747.139 fine ounces. It does not publish a chain-by-chain bridge reconciliation, so adding each contract totalSupply as a separate gold liability would double count interoperable representations.

Other gold-adjacent tickers remain separate. Alloy’s aUSD₮ borrowed against XAU₮ and entered wind-down in June 2026; it was never the gold token itself. XAUt0 extends XAU₮ across chains, but Tether explicitly says it does not issue XAUt0. The issuer contract, wrapper and collateral product answer different ownership questions.