Abu Dhabi Global Market’s financial regulator has recognised Tether Gold (XAU₮) as an Accepted Spot Commodity, clearing licensed firms in the free zone to trade, custody and settle the token.

The Financial Services Regulatory Authority, ADGM‘s regulator, granted the status in a decision announced on 20 July 2026. Each XAU₮ token represents one fine troy ounce of physical gold, held as London Good Delivery bars in vaults primarily in Switzerland and redeemable for the physical metal.

The recognition follows the FSRA’s earlier approval of Tether’s USD₮ stablecoin as an Accepted Fiat-Referenced Token, and extends the range of Tether products that ADGM-licensed firms can support. It doesn’t remove the need for a firm’s own paperwork. Anyone wanting to actually offer XAU₮ services still needs their own regulatory permission to deal in accepted spot commodities first.

Reserves have tripled in a year

XAU₮’s total value locked has risen from about $826 million a year ago to roughly $2.86 billion, on-chain data shows.

The token gained 3.15% over the roughly 40 hours after the announcement, a move slightly ahead of a 2.5% rebound in spot gold prices over the same window.

Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s chief executive, said bringing XAU₮ into ADGM’s spot commodities framework “creates new room for firms with the relevant regulatory permissions to work with a token backed by physical gold.” Arvind Ramamurthy, ADGM’s chief market development officer, said the recognition “continues to advance a trusted, well-regulated environment that enables responsible innovation across digital assets.”

A gold token already in use

The recognition follows XAU₮ picking up use beyond Tether’s own marketing. Ledn, a bitcoin-backed lending platform, added XAU₮ as loan collateral in June, ahead of the ADGM decision, letting clients borrow against gold holdings without selling them.

Ledn co-founder Adam Reeds said at the time: “This is not a move away from Bitcoin. Bitcoin stays at the centre of how our clients build wealth. Gold sits beside it, the same hard-asset thinking applied to the oldest store of value there is.”

Rival token still holds a heavier US charter

ADGM’s recognition gives XAU₮ a regulated foothold in the Gulf, but it does not close the regulatory gap with its largest competitor.

PAX Gold, the rival tokenised-gold product, is issued by Paxos Trust Company under a New York trust charter supervised by the state’s Department of Financial Services, with monthly audits. XAU₮’s issuer, TG Commodities Limited, an affiliate of Tether, is licensed by El Salvador’s National Commission of Digital Assets and audited quarterly, a lighter regulatory regime than a chartered US trust.

Tokenised gold, led by XAU₮ and PAX Gold combined, now accounts for close to $4.4 billion of the roughly $34.7 billion tokenised real-world-asset market.