The price of gold has been setting new record after record for a year now. Trading in tokens that track its value has skyrocketed. Tether Gold (XAUt) and Paxos Gold (PAXG), the main cryptoassets that maintain the value of gold, reached all-time trading highs last week

PAXG's weekly trading volume reached a record high of $802 million. Its previous peak was $715 million just over a year ago.

In correlation, XAUt's weekly trading reached an all-time high of USD 267 million, registering a new record for the second consecutive week after surpassing the peak of USD 179 reached nine months ago.

While PAXG's record is significantly higher than XAUt's, it's worth noting that it has had lower weekly trading volumes overall over the past year. This can be seen in the following charts.

PAXG Weekly trading volume since 2023. Source: DefiLlama.

XAUt's sustained volume over the past year, as shown below, has allowed it to have a market capitalization similar to that of PAXG. In fact, it slightly exceeds it.

XAUt Weekly trading volume since 2023. Source: DefiLlama.

Tether Gold is the gold token with the largest capitalization

XAUt is the gold token with the highest market capitalization , at USD 826 million. PAXG follows with USD 765 million. Meanwhile, their circulating supply is similar, with the former having 246,520 units and the latter 228,760. With these capitalizations, they rank 71st and 79th, respectively, in the ranking of the largest cryptoassets. It should be noted that capitalization represents the total value of the asset's outstanding units multiplied by its price.

Both PAXG and XAUt are stablecoins, that is, cryptoassets that have the same price as an asset. In their case, they have the same price as an ounce of gold.

That's why the price of each one reached a record high of USD 3,300 this week, just as the price of gold did.  These assets are tokens since, unlike cryptocurrencies, they do not have their own network, but in their case they operate on Ethereum. As their full names suggest, Tether Gold is issued by Tether, the company that owns the largest-cap stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, Tether (USDT). Pax Gold belongs to Paxos, a company that also owns a stablecoin that tracks the value of the US dollar.

There are bullish expectations for gold

According to new forecasts from major financial institutions, gold and cryptoassets that track its price could be a good investment this year. Both Goldman Sachs and UBS Group issued new bullish forecasts for the precious metal last week.

Goldman Sachs analysts raised their gold price projection for the third time this year. They now expect a price of $3,700 per ounce by the end of 2025 and $4,000 by mid-2026. However, in the event of extreme risk aversion, they see a possible price of $4,500 by December.

In line with this, UBS strategist Joni Teves raised her target to $3,500 per ounce by December 2025. Like Goldman Sachs specialists, she bases her estimates on growing market demand as a safe haven from economic instability.

U.S. President Donald Trump has been imposing new import taxes since taking office three months ago. This policy seeks to boost domestic industry and negotiate better international trade terms. However, they may lead to higher product prices, raising expectations of inflation and fears of recession.

The countries that fell on Trump's list have shown interest in negotiating, leading the president to pause the tariffs for 90 days. However, this was not the case with China, which raised taxes and responded with retaliatory tariffs.

In any case, China has shown signs this week of willingness to negotiate, under certain conditions, such as the Trump administration curbing its disparaging remarks about its government. Therefore, developments in this scenario could cause markets to remain highly volatile.

The tariff war has been affecting demand for stocks, as well as for Bitcoin (BTC), which lost the all-time highs they reached at the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, purchases of gold and its tokens have been boosted.