Tether introduced Scudo, an accounting unit for its XAUT gold-backed token, to lower barriers for fractional gold ownership through blockchain technology. Each Scudo represents one-thousandth of a troy ounce of physical gold, and one Scudo equals 1,000 XAUT tokens backed by more than 1,300 gold bars held in custody with roughly $2.3 billion in market capitalization. The issuer described Scudo as making gold more transactable on digital infrastructure rather than serving only as a long-term store of value.
CEO Paolo Ardoino described gold as the ultimate store of value alongside Bitcoin after bullion prices climbed above $4,550 per troy ounce. Ardoino compared Scudo to satoshis, the smallest Bitcoin unit, in a social media post. The structure mirrors how Bitcoin’s smallest denomination enables easier transactions in readable units.
Precious metals posted record performance in 2025, with gold rising roughly 65% amid de-dollarization efforts, aggressive central bank purchases, and persistent inflation concerns, while silver climbed more than 140% to about $80 per troy ounce. Economist Peter Schiff described the surge as investors preparing for what he called the greatest inflation in U.S. history, despite recent Consumer Price Index readings showing moderating trends. Gold’s advance highlighted divergence with Bitcoin, which finished the year lower with limited safe-haven demand, and the broad deleveraging following the Oct. 10 market crash.
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