Tether Gold Scudo enables fractional on-chain gold payments, improving accessibility, liquidity, and everyday use of tokenized gold.
Author: Kritika Gupta
7th January 2026- Tether has unveiled Scudo, a new fractional unit for its gold-backed token, aimed at making on-chain gold usable for everyday transactions. The update comes as gold prices hit record highs, limiting the practicality of full-ounce tokenized gold transfers. By introducing smaller denominations, Tether Gold Scudo expands access to digital gold for both retail users and institutions. The move signals a push to position gold as a functional payment asset on-chain.
CoinMarketCap
@CoinMarketCap
LATEST: 💰 Tether has launched Scudo, a new unit of account representing 1/1000 of a troy ounce for its gold-backed XAUT token, as institutional demand surges and gold prices climb above $4,500. https://t.co/hWFmATeXn9
12:43 AM·Jan 7, 2026
Unchained
@Unchained_pod
🥇 LATEST: Stablecoin issuer Tether introduced Scudo, new unit of account for gold-backed token Tether Gold. Scudo is defined as one-thousandth of troy ounce of gold or one-thousandth of XAUT. Gold-backed tokens currently have combined market cap of about $4.3B with XAUT https://t.co/lQKsctuBYt
10:14 PM·Jan 6, 2026
Crypto Miners
@CryptoMiners_Co
.@tether introduces “Scudo” for XAU₮ Scudo is a new unit for Tether’s gold token, where 1 Scudo = 1/1000th of a troy ounce, making gold easier to price and use onchain. There are no ongoing fees beyond issuance and redemption, and it’s built with self-custody in mind, https://t.co/sUjELo2pI4
06:18 PM·Jan 6, 2026
On January 6, 2026, Tether announced Scudo as a new unit of account for Tether Gold. One Scudo represents 1/1000th of a troy ounce of physical gold, matching a fractional share of one XAU₮ token.
At current gold prices above $4,400 per ounce, each Scudo is valued at roughly $4.40. This structure allows users to transact in small gold-based amounts without needing to move a full ounce on-chain.
Tether stated that the goal is to restore gold’s role as a practical medium of exchange, not just a store of value.
The launch of Tether Gold Scudo addresses a long-standing usability issue in tokenized commodities. High per-unit prices have limited gold tokens to large transfers and institutional use.
Fractional units improve accessibility, liquidity, and composability across DeFi protocols. They also enable micro-payments, merchant use cases, and more precise collateral management.
For the broader real-world asset sector, Scudo strengthens gold’s competitiveness against fiat-backed stablecoins in on-chain payments.
Gold reached record highs in early 2026, driven by geopolitical risk and sustained safe-haven demand. At the same time, tokenized real-world assets have continued to gain traction across crypto markets.
Tether Gold’s market capitalization has grown past $2.3 billion, reflecting rising demand for digital gold exposure. However, high per-unit prices remained a structural limitation compared to fiat stablecoins.
Scudo mirrors Bitcoin’s satoshi model by solving denomination issues, placing Tether ahead of competitors that still rely on full-ounce representations.
Tether plans to integrate Scudo across supported wallets, exchanges, and partner platforms that already support XAU₮. Adoption will depend on how quickly interfaces update to display and transact fractional units.
If widely supported, Scudo could unlock new use cases in payments, DeFi collateral, lending markets, and cross-chain transfers.
With gold demand and RWA momentum still strong, Scudo may drive further growth in XAU₮ usage over the coming months.
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