Tether Launches Scudo to Simplify Fractional Gold Ownership

Tether Introduces New Gold Account Unit

Tether has launched a new account unit linked to its digital gold token, XAUT, aimed at reducing barriers for fractional gold ownership as institutional investors and central banks accumulate the precious metal at record levels. On Tuesday, the stablecoin issuer unveiled Scudo, an account unit representing 1,000 troy ounces of gold. Each Scudo corresponds to 1/1,000 of an XAUT token, a gold-backed asset from Tether. XAUT is supported by over 1,300 gold bars held in custody and currently has a market capitalization of approximately $2.3 billion, according to Tether.

Tether stated that the introduction of Scudo is intended to make gold ownership more accessible. Although gold has always been viewed as a reliable store of value, direct ownership has historically been constrained by issues of storage, custody, and divisibility. While XAUT has already addressed many of these challenges by tokenizing physical gold, Scudo is aimed at further simplifying smaller transactions on the blockchain backed by the metal. According to the company, this move represents a step towards making gold easier to trade through modern digital avenues, not merely serving as a long-term store of value.

Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s CEO, described gold as