MILESTONE | Onchain Gold Trading Surges to Record High as Market Eyes Tokenized Stocks

BitKE · 2026-03-18T13:37:39+00:00

Gold-backed tokens, particularly Tether Gold and Paxos Gold, have recorded $236 million in onchain trading, reflecting a 247% increase in investor interest driven by macroeconomic uncertainty and rising gold prices. Tokenized equities are expected to follow this trend, signaling a shift towards stable asset-backed investments in the crypto space.

BitKE

2026-03-18 13:37:39

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Gold-backed tokens have quietly posted record-breaking volumes – signaling growing investor appetite for real-world assets (RWAs) onchain.

Over the past two weeks, combined onchain trading volumes for Tether Gold (XAUt) and Paxos Gold (PAXG) reached $236 million, marking a 247% spike from the prior fortnight. This also represents a 43% jump compared to early April 2025 when the current uptrend first began.

PAXG continues to dominate, accounting for 68% of the total volume, according to DeFiLlama.

What’s Driving the Spike?

The surge in onchain gold trading coincides with:

Persistent macro uncertainty – driven by U.S. tariff policy shifts and conflict in the Middle East.
Rising spot gold prices – which have climbed 29% over the last 6 months, and 2% over the past month.
Recovery in crypto markets – which appears to be fueling broader interest in non-volatile tokenized assets.

The spike reflects how onchain gold is increasingly viewed not just as a safe haven, but as a reliable liquidity asset during periods of geopolitical or market stress.

Tokenized Stocks: The Next Wave?

The boom in gold-backed tokens comes just as institutional and DeFi players ramp up efforts to tokenize traditional equities.

Key Players:

Coinbase: The largest U.S.-based crypto exchange is reportedly seeking SEC approval to launch onchain stock trading, following comments from CFO, Alesia Haas, hinting at “security tokens” entering the mainstream.
Hyperliquid ($HYPE): A decentralized derivatives protocol, already popular for perp trading, is rumored to be working on tokenized equities as well.
Dinari ($dShares): While the giants talk, Dinari is building. The platform has seen a 760% TVL increase since March 2025 as users gain exposure to real-world stocks via blockchain.

Why It Matters

This uptick in onchain RWA activity is more than a short-term trend – it’s a clear signal of investor appetite for asset-backed stability onchain.

As regulators and innovators converge on tokenized securities, the recent performance of XAUt and PAXG offers a case study in what credible, compliant RWAs can achieve when integrated into DeFi rails.

With tokenized gold now setting volume records, and tokenized stocks on the horizon, a new era of compliant real-world asset trading may already be underway.

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XAUT-2,54%

PAXG-2,73%

HYPE-1,25%

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