Tether has launched XAU₮ on BNB Chain and Binance, extending its 60% share of a $4b tokenized gold market across 12+ networks via the USDt0 cross-chain system.

Tether on March 26 announced that Tether Gold (XAU₮) is now live on BNB Chain, placing the dominant tokenized gold product directly into the ecosystem of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and its hundreds of millions of users. Each XAU₮ token represents one fine troy ounce of physical gold — London Good Delivery standard — held in Swiss vaults and independently attested on a 1:1 basis.

The launch is timed to a market that has moved sharply in tokenized gold’s favor. Gold surged 64% in 2025 — its largest annual gain in 40 years — setting more than 50 all-time highs as geopolitical tensions and trade uncertainty pushed investors toward safe-haven assets. The gold-backed stablecoin market nearly tripled over the same period, climbing from roughly $1.3 billion to over $4 billion, with XAU₮ holding approximately 60% of total supply.

The BNB Chain deployment is backed by Tether’s USDt0 cross-chain network, which gives XAU₮ unified liquidity across more than 12 blockchains. The architecture is designed to improve the efficiency of issuance, transfer, and settlement, and eliminates the need for users to navigate traditional custody logistics, counterparty premiums, or settlement delays associated with physical gold markets.

What Tether and BNB Chain executives said

“With XAU₮, we are not changing what gold is; we are making it usable in a modern financial system,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, in the official announcement. “You still have direct exposure to physical gold, but now it can move instantly, settle globally, and integrate seamlessly with digital markets. Listing on BNB Chain expands that access to hundreds of millions of users, bringing gold into a system where it can actually be used, not just held.”

Nina Rong, Executive Director of Growth at BNB Chain, added: “XAU₮ on BNB Chain extends what is already the second-largest RWA ecosystem by TVL. It gives users a trusted, gold-backed asset they can use across DeFi without friction.”

BNB Chain doubles down on real-world assets

The Tether Gold deployment deepens BNB Chain’s position in tokenized real-world assets. As reported in a previous crypto.news story, the network’s RWA value surged 555% year over year in Q4 2024, making it the second-largest RWA blockchain behind Ethereum. The addition of XAU₮ — already the largest gold-backed token by market cap — reinforces that trajectory as institutions accelerate tokenized commodity adoption.

XAU₮ is issued by TG Commodities, S.A. de C.V., a registered Digital Asset Service Provider under El Salvador’s Digital Asset Issuance Law. Reserve details and vault attestation reports are publicly accessible at gold.tether.to. Binance also listed XAUt on March 26 with perpetual futures, leveraged trading pairs, and principal-protected yield products — though the launch was briefly delayed from 21:30 to 22:00 UTC+8.

The move follows Tether’s January launch of Scudo, a fractional unit for XAU₮ equal to one-thousandth of a troy ounce, detailed in a previous crypto.news story, which was aimed at making tokenized gold viable for payments and everyday on-chain use.

TLDR

• BlackRock has integrated Chronicle’s Proof of Asset system for its tokenized BUIDL fund.
• The system provides independently verified holdings-level data through an onchain dashboard.
• The tokenized BUIDL fund manages about $1.7 billion in U.S. Treasuries, repos, and cash.
• Securitize issues and manage the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund onchain.
• Chronicle sources data directly from custodians and administrators to verify asset composition.

BlackRock has integrated Chronicle as a verification provider for its tokenized BUIDL fund. The firm will use Chronicle’s Proof of Asset system to publish independently verified holdings data. The update strengthens transparency for the $1.7 billion onchain U.S. Treasuries vehicle.

BlackRock and Tokenized BUIDL Add Independent Asset Verification

BlackRock confirmed that its BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund will use Chronicle’s Proof of Asset system. The system delivers independently verified holdings-level data for the tokenized BUIDL fund. It continuously attests to asset availability, freshness, and integrity through the Chronicle dashboard.

Securitize issues and manages the tokenized BUIDL fund onchain. Carlos Domingo, CEO of Securitize, said, “Tokenization becomes meaningful when investors and protocols can independently verify what’s actually backing the product.” He added that Chronicle’s support shows tokenized funds are evolving into transparent, data-driven instruments for institutions and global markets.

Chronicle Protocol built Proof of Asset as an institutional-grade oracle layer. The system sources data directly from custodians and fund administrators. It then publishes attestations covering valuation, composition, custody, and asset existence.

Niklas Kunkel, founder of Chronicle, described the product as an “integrity layer” for tokenized finance. He said the tool delivers granular data for asset managers, allocators, and risk teams. He stated, “We’re building a layer that didn’t exist until now.”

Robert Mitchnik, BlackRock’s head of digital assets, addressed the integration. He said the system gives platforms and allocators greater visibility into tokenized asset evaluation and usage. He explained that institutions require deeper verification standards for digital products.

Chronicle Expands Data Infrastructure Across Tokenized Funds

Chronicle reported that Proof of Asset secures about $5 billion in total value. The system supports funds, including the Janus Henderson Anemoy Treasury Fund (JTRSY). It also covers Superstate’s Short Duration US Government Securities Fund (USTB).

Securitize has also implemented Chronicle’s system for its Tokenized AAA CLO Fund (STAC). Chronicle said Proof of Asset differs from price or NAV relays because it verifies underlying holdings data. Kunkel stated that the infrastructure introduces a new verification standard for tokenized funds.

The tokenized BUIDL fund currently holds about $1.7 billion in assets. The portfolio includes U.S. Treasuries, overnight repurchase agreements, and cash. BlackRock manages the fund as the largest onchain Treasuries investment vehicle.

The announcement follows recent efforts to publish off-chain financial data on blockchain networks. Coinbase recently said it would push order book, equities, and futures data onchain through ChainLink’s DataLink tool. Firms such as S&P Global and FTSE Russell have also moved to provide market data directly onchain.

Stretch (STRC), the perpetual preferred equity issued by Strategy (MSTR), the world’s largest corporate holder of bitcoin, reclaimed its $100 par value during Thursday’s trading session, giving the company the leeway to raise funds to add to its stash of the largest cryptocurrency.

The recovery took nine trading days following the March 13 ex-dividend date, when buyers of the stock no longer qualify for the next payout. Prices of ex-dividend stocks typically drop to reflect the cash being distributed to the previous shareholders.

At its core, STRC works by adjusting yield to steer price. If shares trade above $100, the company can trim the dividend to cool demand. If shares fall below that level, it can raise dividends to attract buyers. Keeping the price anchored lets the firm issue new shares near par, bringing in capital that is then deployed to buy bitcoin.

The return to par, this time, was slightly faster than the historical average of around 10 trading days for STRC, according to STRC.live.

STRC functions as a short-duration, high-yield credit instrument, offering an 11.5% annual dividend paid monthly. This structure helps incentivise trading near its $100 par value, enabling the company to utilise at-the-market (ATM) share issuance to raise capital for additional bitcoin acquisitions.

In comparison, SATA, the equivalent tool issued by bitcoin treasury company Strive (ASST), offers a higher 12.75% dividend. Currently priced at $99.25, it is also approaching par value.

Strategy bought 1,031 bitcoin last week for a total cost of $76.6 million, or $74,326 per coin. However, the magnitude of that buy was far lower than that of recent acquisitions, and STRC wasn’t at par during last week’s bitcoin purchase.

The firm’s holdings now stand at 762,099 bitcoin, bought for approximately $57.69 billion, at an average price of $75,694 per bitcoin.

Read more: Michael Saylor’s Strategy dominates DAT bitcoin buying as treasury demand collapses

Bitcoin’s (BTC) consolidation continued into Thursday as bulls struggled to keep hold of $70,000, and competing narratives on BTC’s market structure versus its increasing institutional adoption clashed with the bearish overarching factors negatively impacting US equity markets. 

Citing Bernstein’s $150,000 by the end of 2026 price estimate, Bloomberg analysts said that data shows institutional investors returning to the Bitcoin markets in droves, reinforcing the view that BTC had “reached a floor.”   

In early March, a week-long stretch of inflows to the spot Bitcoin ETFs nearly topped $1 billion, while Strategy purchased 22,237 BTC for $1.6 billion through its new perpetual preferred equity, Stretch (STRC). In addition to the success of STRC, Strategy also unveiled plans to raise capital to buy $44.1 billion in additional Bitcoin. 

Further proof of institutions stepping back into the crypto market came from $10 trillion asset manager Morgan Stanley filing documents to launch its own spot Bitcoin ETF. Morgan Stanley recommends investors maintain a 2% to 4% allocation to cryptocurrencies, and on March 26, a proposed Labor Department rule, which would permit brokerages that manage and offer services in the $10 trillion 401(k) retirement plan market to invest in Bitcoin, progressed through the White House’s regulatory review process.  

On Thursday, Coinbase also launched token-backed down payments for Fannie Mae loans, essentially permitting Bitcoin holders to use BTC and USDC to fund home mortgages. The offering allows investors holding Bitcoin to unlock the trapped liquidity of BTC without selling or generating a taxable event. 

Related: US Bitcoin ETFs post 6-day inflow streak as crypto rallies

How important is Bitcoin’s $70,000 support?

While institutional investors’ renewed interest in buying Bitcoin has clearly returned, BTC’s price volatility and its inability to break out of a near 6-month price downtrend remain clear hurdles. The ongoing US-Israel and Iran war, along with President Trump’s threat to send ground troops to Iran continues to negatively impact stock markets and cryptocurrencies. 

On Thursday, in a Truth Social post, President Trump said Iran’s negotiators had “better get serious soon, before it is too late, because once that happens there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won’t be pretty!” The clear buildup of US military assets deployed to the Middle East has markets worried that a ground operation could begin as early as this weekend. 

Following a series of comments from the President, US markets sold off, with the DOW shedding 400 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq saw 1.49% and 2.07% respective losses. On the other hand, WTI crude oil and Brent Crude rallied, with each seeing gains of over 4%.

With growing uncertainty on which direction the US-Israel and Iran war takes and the longer-term impact of record-high oil prices on US inflation and the wider economy, investors are electing to decrease their exposure to volatility. 

This explains Bitcoin’s frequent re-visits to prices below $70,000 along with the short-lived nature of rallies in the $71,000 to $76,000 range. That said, one positive is that institutional and retail investors appear to view $70,000 and below as an optimal buying zone, thus reinforcing the level as support.