Over the last six months, the value of an ounce of gold has witnessed a 3.8% surge in relation to the U.S. dollar. Within the realm of cryptocurrencies, there exist two noteworthy tokens backed by gold: pax gold (PAXG) and tether gold (XAUT). Together, these tokens amass a considerable worth of nearly $1 billion. Although the total number of PAXG and XAUT tokens reaches nearly 500,000, their distribution is relatively concentrated, amongst the 31,000 token holders.
Nearly 500,000 Gold-Backed Tokens in Circulation, Yet 20 Wallets Dominate the Supply
The two leading gold-pegged crypto assets, PAXG and XAUT, which are backed by a troy ounce of .999 fine gold, still dominate the field of precious metal-based digital currencies. The demand for tokens backed by gold experienced a significant surge in 2022, notably when gold reached its all-time high of $2,074.60 per ounce on March 8th.
An illustrative example is PAXG, which saw its market value soar from $424 million on February 19, 2022, to $611 million by the end of March. Tether gold also saw growth last year, with its market capitalization increasing from $430 million in February 2022 to $486 million the following March, a rise of more than 13%. Combining the market capitalizations of both PAXG and XAUT on March 23, 2022, amounted to $1.09 billion in value.
Today, the combined market capitalization of both gold-backed tokens has decreased, with PAXG standing at $490 million and XAUT at $487 million. Over the past day, PAXG, issued by Paxos, has recorded approximately $16.38 million in global trade volume, while XAUT has witnessed $4.17 million in trading activity.
Statistics indicate that there are approximately 31,000 holders of PAXG and XAUT combined, with 30,314 wallets specifically holding PAXG. As for tether gold, it is held by only 1,037 unique addresses. Notably, the top ten addresses for XAUT control a significant 98.23% of the total supply. The largest wallet for tether gold contains 93,500 XAUT, while the Tether Treasury possesses 66,679 tokens.
Bitfinex, on the other hand, holds approximately 28,712 XAUT, representing 11.65% of the total supply. Among the 30,000+ PAXG wallets, the top ten addresses account for 34.13% of the entire supply. Binance takes the lead as the largest wallet holder with 20,000 PAXG tokens, followed by the Paxos Treasury, which holds 15,235 PAXG. Furthermore, Binance possesses another wallet within the top ten, containing 5,833 PAXG, while Kraken holds 5,810 PAXG in the wallet just below Binance’s.
Gold-Backed Coins Witness Minimal transfers
Determining the exact availability of these gold tokens for retail traders in the open market is challenging. In previous instances, both PAXG and XAUT have experienced premiums and discounts on exchanges compared to the spot market value of gold. Generally, both coins have closely mirrored the spot value of an ounce of gold since their issuance. Similarly to their physical counterparts, tether gold tokens exhibit minimal transfers.
Since its creation, XAUT has only witnessed a total of 13,654 transfers. On the contrary, PAXG has seen a significantly higher number of transfers, reaching 846,887 since its inception. However, when comparing the transfer activity of PAXG to that of Ethereum and Bitcoin on a daily basis, PAXG’s transfers appear relatively minor in comparison.
What do you think about the top two gold-backed tokens and the concentrations of their supplies? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
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