Market maker Wintermute has expanded its services for institutional clients by launching over-the-counter (OTC) trading of PAXG and XAUT tokens, which are fully backed by gold. Investors can now trade these assets both against major cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies.
This is reported by Business • Media
Features of Tokenized Gold PAXG and XAUT
PAXG and XAUT tokens are stablecoins developed by Paxos and Tether, respectively. Their value is pegged to the price of one troy ounce of gold at a 1:1 ratio, and the backing of each token is confirmed by physical gold. This sets them apart from other stablecoins, which may have cash or government bonds in their reserves.
As of April 2025, the collateral volume for XAUT exceeded 7 tons of actual gold stored in Swiss vaults. The market capitalization of PAXG was $2.2 billion, while XAUT stood at $2.5 billion. By the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, trading volumes in the tokenized gold sector surpassed $126 billion, exceeding the combined figures of the five largest exchange-traded funds (ETFs) investing in this precious metal.
Wintermute’s Strategy and Market Prospects
Wintermute announced that its OTC department is accepting buy and sell orders for PAXG and XAUT against USDT, USDC, major cryptocurrencies, and fiat currencies. The offering is exclusively targeted at institutional audiences. The company explains this decision by the growing demand for gold, which is trading near historical highs, as well as the desire to provide additional liquidity in the tokenized gold market.
By early February 2026, the total assets under management in the tokenized gold sector exceeded $6 billion, with the majority attributed to PAXG and XAUT. As noted by Wintermute CEO Yevhen Haievyi, the market is gradually shifting from the dominance of cryptocurrency exchanges to the involvement of traditional financial institutions and exchange-traded funds like Bitcoin ETFs. This is changing the liquidity structure and increasing interest in tokenized gold as a means of hedging risks during cryptocurrency market volatility.
“We are witnessing gold undergoing the same infrastructural evolution that transformed the currency market into the largest in the world. Gold is now following this scenario, and we expect the tokenized gold market to reach $15 billion by 2026 as institutional adoption accelerates,” the publication quotes him as saying.
It is worth noting that earlier, Wintermute analysts had already expressed their views on the reasons for the cryptocurrency market decline and expectations for further volatility.