Gold has just crossed $5,311 per ounce, sparking a race for safe haven. Faced with this historic peak, two crypto giants are adopting opposing strategies. Tether relies on physical gold, Coinbase on derivatives. This divergence is not a coincidence. It reveals two visions of the financial future: anchored in the tangible for one, oriented towards the markets for the other. Such a strategic shift could redefine the balance of power in the crypto ecosystem.
In brief
- Gold reached a record high of $5,311 per ounce, confirming its status as a safe haven in the face of economic uncertainty.
- Tether is massively strengthening its physical gold reserves, reaching 130 tonnes, including 16.2 tonnes dedicated to the stablecoin XAUT.
- Coinbase takes the opposite approach by banking on precious metals futures, without physical ownership.
- This strategic divergence illustrates two opposing visions of stability: tangible anchoring versus financial flexibility.
Tether dreams of itself as a central bank of gold
As the price of gold crossed $5,311 per ounce, Tether confirmed its growing role in the accumulation of the precious metal.
The stablecoin issuer USDt now holds 130 tonnes of physical gold, valued at around $22 billion. Added to this are 16.2 tonnes allocated specifically to its gold-backed stablecoin, XAUT, for a total of 520,089 troy ounces.
“We are soon to become, in a way, one of the largest gold central banks in the world”has declared Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, during an interview with Bloomberg. According to the latest data from the World Gold Councilthis reserve places Tether at the level of the central banks of countries like Mexico, Sweden or South Africa.
The company has specified that the gold reserves linked to the XAUT token are separated from the rest of the assets, and that each token can result in physical delivery upon request. The strategy adopted by Tether is thus based on a logic of tangible backing, based on real assets, breaking with a certain financial abstraction of the sector. This accumulation aims to:
- Strengthen the credibility of XAUT in an uncertain economic context;
- Diversify Tether reserves by adding a historically stable asset;
- Compete with traditional institutions on the land of strategic reserves;
- Providing crypto investors with direct, deliverable exposure to gold.
This atypical positioning among stablecoin issuers reflects a clear desire: to anchor cryptos in tangible fundamentals to attract a new category of investors and be sustainable over the long term.
Coinbase bets on futures
Faced with this materialist offensive, Coinbase has adopted a resolutely financial approach. Rather than accumulating physical gold, the American platform highlighted its range of derivative products, notably futures contracts on precious metals.
“You can trade precious metals on Coinbase”recalled Brian Armstrong, CEO of the company, in a publication on X. He cited gold, silver, copper and platinum among the available options, specifying that these instruments do not involve any physical delivery.
This strategy has caused mixed reactions in the crypto community. Some commentators saw this as a “top signal”interpreting the promotion of these products as a sign of an imminent peak in the gold markets. Unlike Tether, Coinbase does not seem to seek to capitalize on the intrinsic safe haven of the yellow metal, but rather to offer flexible trading instruments to its users, in a primarily speculative market logic.
In a context of economic tensions, the strategies of Tether and Coinbase outline two irreconcilable visions. As tokenized gold soars, the question is no longer whether to gain exposure, but how. Physical or derivatives, the outcome of this divergence could well reshape the future of safe havens in the crypto sphere.
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