Commodity-backed cryptocurrencies, which are dominated by gold-backed tokens, have seen a historic surge in issuance this week, with minting volumes hitting their highest point in at least five years.
The leap comes after gold futures traded above a $3,500 all-time high this week, after the Swiss Precious Metals Association warned that the U.S.’s 39% tariffs on Switzerland could have “negative impact” on the international flow of physical gold. Both gold spot and futures fell after the initial surge, when a White House official told Bloomberg that the President would introduce a policy clarifying that imports of gold bars should not be subject to tariffs.
That didn’t stop gold-backed tokens from being minted, however.
The warning also saw gold-based cryptocurrencies, including Tether Gold (XAUT) and Paxos Gold (PAXG), briefly top $3,390 before receding. Minting volumes, per RWA.xyz data, reached $439 million over the week, more than doubling the previous $195 million record seen in 2021.
These tokens, which are backed by physical reserves held in vaults, allow investors to gain exposure to the precious metal and can be transferred instantly on-chain without crossing borders.
Switzerland, which refines a large share of the world’s gold despite having no mines of its own, exported more than $61 billion worth of the metal to the U.S. over the past year.
The move has triggered a political backlash in Switzerland, with some lawmakers calling for the gold sector to shoulder part of the economic fallout. The precious metal makes up over a quarter of Switzerland’s exports, per Swiss National Bank data.