Bitpanda Secures Third MiCA License in Home Jurisdiction of Austria

Tokenized Gold Volume Surges Past $1B as Trump Tariffs Spark Safe-Haven Demand

The market for tokenized gold has roared back to life, surpassing $1 billion in weekly trading volume for the first time since the 2023 U.S. banking crisis. As geopolitical tensions escalate and investor uncertainty rises, digital gold tokens are experiencing a significant resurgence, fueled by renewed demand for safe-haven assets.

According to a recent report by CEX.io, the spike in tokenized gold interest comes in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s reintroduced import tariffs, which have rattled global markets and reignited trade war fears. Since the first wave of tariffs was announced on Jan. 20, demand for gold-backed tokens like Paxos Gold (PAXG), Tether Gold (XAUT), and Kinesis Gold (KAU) has skyrocketed.

Source: Bitpanda

Explosive Growth in Tokenized Gold

• PAXG trading volume has surged by over 900% since January.

• XAUT volume has increased more than 300%.

• KAU volume soared a staggering 83,000%, reflecting a dramatic shift in investor focus.

Tokenized gold has now become one of the best-performing categories in the crypto market since Trump’s inauguration, with its market cap up over 21% and trading volume up more than 1,000%. By comparison, stablecoins have seen an 8% increase in market cap and a 285% rise in volume during the same period.

This shift highlights a growing appetite for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization—blockchain-based representations of tangible assets such as gold, real estate, or art.

Bitpanda announced receiving a MiCA license from the MFSA in a LinkedIn post. Source: LinkedIn posting date extractor

Gold Prices at Record Highs

The boom in tokenized gold mirrors a surge in physical gold prices, which hit a new all-time high of over $3,100 per ounce on March 31. At the time of writing, gold was trading at above $3,118, buoyed by investor fears over protectionist trade policies and potential market instability.

Gold has outperformed Bitcoin significantly in 2025 so far, rising over 18% year-to-date, while Bitcoin has fallen more than 12%, according to TradingView data.

Tokenized Gold’s Role in Modern Portfolios

“Tokenized gold presents a compelling alternative for crypto-native investors who might otherwise look to Bitcoin or stablecoins,” said Illia Otychenko, lead analyst at CEX.io. He emphasized that while tokenized gold is not yet a direct competitor to physical bullion, it is gaining traction as a diversification tool amid growing market uncertainty.

Data from Austria’s Financial Market Authority on Bitpanda’s licensing. Source: FMA

“In this context, tokenized gold has primarily served as a diversification tool, gaining increasing traction in investor portfolios,” Otychenko told.

A Continued Flight to Safety

Trump’s tariff-driven trade policies are the latest catalyst driving investors toward assets perceived as more resilient in times of turmoil. Tokenized gold’s recent surge reflects the broader flight to safety across financial markets, with stablecoins and other tokenized RWAs also seeing increased activity.

The last time tokenized gold volumes hit this level was in March 2023 during the U.S. banking crisis. That episode saw the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate, and Signature Bank, prompting a surge in demand for alternative financial instruments. The Federal Reserve responded with the Bank Term Funding Program, offering year-long loans against qualifying collateral—an, an event that many analysts believe helped fuel the 2023 Bitcoin bull run.

As tokenization of real-world assets gains momentum and macroeconomic pressures mount, gold-backed crypto products are emerging as key players in the evolving digital finance landscape. With rising global uncertainty and shifting investor preferences, tokenized gold may continue to shine as both a hedge and a high-performance asset class.