By Wenser, Odaily Planet Daily

On September 2nd, spot gold prices surged over 1% intraday, breaking through $3,510 per ounce and reaching a record high of $3,512.27 per ounce. On the morning of the 3rd, spot gold prices briefly surged over $10, reaching a high of $3,547 per ounce, a new record high. Surprisingly, news has surfaced that the World Gold Council is exploring the launch of "digital gold," which could potentially disrupt London's $900 billion physical gold market. Odaily Planet Daily will summarize recent gold price trends, industry news, and major gold tokenization projects for your reference.

Gold is on the rise again, and analysts predict that the price of gold may rise to $3,900 per ounce

On September 1, spot gold reached $3,470 per ounce, setting a new high since April 22 this year, with an intraday increase of 0.67%.

Subsequently, in just two days, the gold price quickly broke through above $3,500 and gradually stabilized, which made the industry highly bullish on the future trend of gold prices.

Analyst: Gold prices are expected to reach the $3,600-3,900 range in the coming months

Philip Nova analyst Priyanka Sachdeva stated in a report that if spot gold prices sustainably break through $3,500, prices could reach a range of $3,600 to $3,900 per ounce in the coming months. She stated that the United States' aggressive tariff stance has increased geopolitical risks and fueled safe-haven investing. She stated that factors such as expectations of interest rate cuts, political unrest, and strong demand for ETFs have transformed gold from a tactical hedge into a strategic necessity for many investors. Sachdeva believes that the $3,800 per ounce target could be the first clear psychological barrier for gold to break through its current highs.

Financial Times: World Gold Council is planning to launch "digital gold"

The World Gold Council (WGC) is looking to launch a digital form of gold, a move that could revolutionize London’s $900 billion physical gold market by creating a new way to trade, settle and collateralize gold, the Financial Times reported.

David Tait, CEO of the World Gold Council, stated in an interview that this new format will enable "gold as collateral to be transferred digitally within the gold ecosystem for the first time." While many investors value gold as a safe haven asset due to its physical nature and lack of counterparty risk, Tait believes that gold must be digitized to expand its market reach. "We are trying to build a standardized digital layer for gold so that financial products used in other markets can be applied to the gold market in the future," Tait said. "My goal is to get asset managers around the world to rethink gold."

This move is seen by the World Gold Council as a shift in response to the changing financial investment landscape. While gold has previously been considered a safe haven due to its physical properties and lack of counterparty risk, many banks and investors view it as an illiquid, non-yielding asset. As Tait explains, "For banks, from a collateral perspective alone, they can earn significant profits because they have the opportunity to use the gold on their balance sheets as collateral."

The initiative, primarily driven by a new digital entity called pooled gold interests (PGIs), will allow banks and investors to buy and sell fractional ownership of physical gold held in segregated accounts. London-based businesses will participate in a pilot program in the first quarter of 2026.

Currently, transactions in the London gold market are divided into "allocated gold" transactions (involving specific gold bars) and "unallocated gold" transactions (only the amount of gold is agreed upon, without specifying specific gold bars). The emergence of "digital gold" may add a third type of over-the-counter gold trading in London.

Market Status: The market capitalization of gold tokenization projects is less than 1% of the market capitalization of gold ETFs

According to Coingecko data, the overall market capitalization of the tokenized gold market is currently around $2.6 billion. Compared to the $400 billion gold ETF market, the former is less than 1% of the latter. In comparison, the gold tokenization market is still in its early stages and has huge development potential. The following is an introduction to specific gold tokenization projects:

XAUT: Backed by Tether, with a market capitalization of $1.32 billion

According to on-chain data, Tether minted 129,000 tokens on Ethereum in early August, currently worth approximately $455 million. Therefore, its market capitalization is currently $1.32 billion.

Previously, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino published a statement revealing that if Tether is regarded as a "country", then its physical gold holdings rank among the top 40; in July, Tether released a XAUT audit report stating that at that time, the circulation of XAUT tokens was 246,524,330 (now increased to about 375,572), and the circulating XAUT tokens were backed by more than 7.66 tons of physical gold.

PAXG: Backed by Paxos, with a market capitalization of approximately $1 billion

Launched by the US stablecoin company Paxos, PAXG has seen its market capitalization surge to a record high of over $1 billion in the past three months. Since June, the token has seen consistent net inflows, reaching $141.5 million in a single month. Currently, there are 282,566 tokens in circulation.

KAU: Backed by Kinesis & ABX, with a market capitalization of approximately US$160 million

KAU is launched by Kinesis, a UK-based digital asset utility platform registered in the Cayman Islands. Each KAU is pegged to one gram of investment-grade gold and stored in a Kinesis vault. Unlike other gold tokens, KAU supports purchase, trading, spending, and transfer. In addition to redemption, users holding assets on the Kinesis platform can earn monthly returns through redistributed transaction fee revenue. They can also earn returns by spending KAU on the Kinesis virtual card, which supports real-time, instant conversion to buy gold, silver, and cryptocurrencies at over 80 million locations worldwide.

XAUm: Backed by Matrixport, with a market capitalization of approximately US$47 million

In early August, Matrixport announced the official launch of its XAUm fixed-income product, supporting a wide range of investment cycles from 7 to 365 days and 15 mainstream assets, including BTC, ETH, SOL, BNB, and USDT. Additionally, the Matrixport platform supports XAUm mint, swaps, and XAUm collateralized lending. The token is issued by Matrixdock, Matrixport's RWA tokenization platform. Last month, the platform completed its second annual 100% gold reserve audit conducted by the internationally renowned firm Biwei, and its gold under management has increased by 500% in six months.

VRO: Backed by VeraOne, with a market capitalization of approximately US$41 million

VRO was launched by VeraOne based in London, UK. The project was jointly launched by AuCOFFRE.com Group and cryptocurrency industry professional Owen Simonin. It was originally founded in 2019. The token price is currently around US$113 and its liquidity is relatively limited.

The following is the basic information of the main projects (organized by @Grok):

Conclusion: Gold’s safe-haven and tax-avoidance properties

It's worth noting that gold's recent surge is closely tied to the performance of the US dollar and US Treasuries. Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, recently stated that the US dollar's distressed debt situation is indirectly driving gold's price increase, and that international investors have begun shifting from US Treasuries to gold. US President Trump stated in August that "gold will not be taxed."

Nowadays, gold tokens that have both the safe-haven and tax-avoidance properties of gold may become the investment choice of more and more people.