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ADGM backs XAU₮
Tether said on 20 July 2026 that Tether Gold (XAU₮) has been recognized as an Accepted Spot Commodity within ADGM, the international financial center of Abu Dhabi, allowing firms in ADGM to offer XAU₮ subject to their own relevant regulatory permissions and approval to use Accepted Spot Commodities.
“Abu Dhabi, UAE — Tether, the company behind the world’s largest stablecoin by market capitalization, announced on [Date] that its tokenized gold product, Tether Gold (XAUT), has been formally recognized as an Accepted Spot Commodity by the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM)”
Tether’s announcement said the recognition follows continued close engagement with ADGM to demonstrate the resilience, transparency, and compliance-focused approach of Tether’s operations, and it “gives firms in ADGM a clearer path to offer services involving XAU₮ within a regulated framework.”
The approval builds on ADGM’s earlier recognition of USD₮ as an Accepted Fiat Referenced Token, expanding the range of Tether products that authorized firms in ADGM can support.
DefiLlama data cited by Crypto News put XAUT’s locked value at about $2.86 billion over the past year, after rising from approximately $826 million, and said the increase amounts to about 246%.
The recognition also positions XAU₮ as a tokenized claim on physical gold, with each full token representing one troy fine ounce of gold on a London Good Delivery bar.
Ardoino and Ramamurthy
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino framed the ADGM decision as regulatory clarity for firms, saying: “By bringing XAU₮ into its Spot Commodities framework, ADGM is creating new room for firms with the relevant regulatory permissions to work with a token backed by physical gold.”
ADGM Chief Market Development Officer Arvind Ramamurthy said the recognition “further strengthens the breadth of products and services available to firms operating from ADGM,” linking the move to scaling business activity within ADGM and Abu Dhabi’s growing financial ecosystem.
Crypto News reported that ADGM linked the addition of XAUT to an expanded selection of products available within the financial center, while also stating the designation applies only to firms that secure the relevant regulatory approvals.
The same report said the designation does not give every company operating in the financial center automatic permission to offer trading, custody or other XAUT services, even as it allows eligible companies to add XAUT-related products to their regulated offerings inside ADGM.
In parallel, Crypto News said the decision follows ADGM’s earlier recognition of Tether’s USDT as an Accepted Fiat Referenced Token, placing the dollar stablecoin and gold-backed token under separate regulatory categories.
From TVL to lending
Beyond spot trading and custody, the sources describe new institutional use cases for XAU₮, including Ledn’s plan to accept the token as loan collateral later this year, allowing customers to borrow against tokenized gold holdings without selling them.
“The recognition allows regulated firms in Abu Dhabi Global Market to offer services involving Tether Gold as tokenized commodities gain broader adoption”
Crypto News said Ledn’s planned integration would place XAUT inside a crypto-backed lending product, while also noting the company has not yet disclosed detailed terms such as loan-to-value ratios, interest rates or the exact launch date.
RWA.xyz figures cited by Crypto News put tokenized commodities at about $4.46 billion in distributed value and said they account for nearly 13% of the roughly $34.73 billion tokenized real-world asset market.
Tether.io said tokenized real-world assets now represent more than $31 billion in distributed asset value, up from roughly $6.6 billion a year earlier, and described XAU₮ as bringing that model to gold with physical backing plus blockchain speed and portability.
Taken together, the sources portray ADGM’s Accepted Spot Commodity status as a defined regulatory route in Abu Dhabi for XAU₮, while Tether continues working with regulators, licensed firms, and partners in the UAE and across the region to support “responsible digital asset adoption.”
