Gold hits $5,300 as Tether stacks bullion and Coinbase pushes futures

Spot gold climbed above $5,300 per ounce on Wednesday, posting a record high of $5,311 at 3:30 am UTC, according to TradingView data.

Amid the rally, Tether, issuer of USDt, the world’s largest stablecoin, doubled down on its gold accumulation.

The contrasting strategies show the different ways crypto companies are positioning themselves as gold booms and Bitcoin continues to lag, trading below $90,000, according to CoinGecko.

Tether hoards 130 tons of gold, aiming to become a “gold central bank”

Tether, which also issues the gold-backed stablecoin XAUt (XAUT), has been accumulating gold as part of its reserves for some time, reporting $12 billion in exposure as of September 2025.

The company holds 520,089 troy ounces of gold for XAUT — roughly 16.2 metric tons — separately from a broader reserve of 130 metric tons, worth around $22 billion at current prices.

“Tether maintains approximately 130 metric tons of physical gold, and the gold backing every XAUT token is held separately, making it eligible for physical delivery redemption,” a spokesperson for Tether told Cointelegraph.