In Brief
- Ledn adds loans backed by Tether Gold, or XAU₮, a token that represents physical gold.
- XAU₮ holders can use their tokenized gold as collateral, similar to how some people already borrow against Bitcoin.
- They can keep their gold exposure, get liquidity when needed, and repay the loan later.
Tether is now the largest private gold buyer on the planet, having amassed roughly $23 billion in bullion. Its next move is to make that gold available for borrowing.
Central banks and bullion desks have lent against gold for decades, but the ordinary Western holder never could. Meanwhile, Bitcoin just backed its first Fannie Mae mortgage. The sixteen-year-old asset is buying houses, but the five-thousand-year-old one still can’t get an ordinary holder a loan.
Tether is changing that, with support from a lender that has originated more than $10 billion in loans since 2018.
Yes, Tether Gold (XAU₮) can be now used as a collateral on Ledn.
“Tether Gold XAU₮ is what makes the difference. As a token, it divides, moves in seconds, and never leaves the vault, which makes gold usable as loan collateral on the same rails our Bitcoin clients have used since 2018,” Ledn said.
XAU₮ holders can now borrow against their gold.
XAU₮ brings physical gold into the same digital form factor as Bitcoin
Each XAU₮ token represents one fine Troy ounce of physical gold held in Swiss vaults. It is divisible, transferable in seconds, and custodied with the rigor our clients expect. These assets are verifiably scarce, non-sovereign, and built to protect long-term purchasing power.
“As digital assets become an increasingly important part of the global economy, demand is growing for solutions that combine long-term ownership with financial flexibility. The addition of XAU₮, USD₮, and USA₮ expands those opportunities and reflects the growing role of digital assets in modern financial markets,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether.
“This is not a move away from Bitcoin. Bitcoin stays at the center of how our clients build wealth,” said Adam Reeds, co-founder of Ledn. “Gold sits beside it, the same hard-asset thinking applied to the oldest store of value there is.”
The same discipline, applied to gold
“We add an asset only when it clears a high bar, and most do not. XAU₮, USD₮ and USA₮ did,” Ledn mentioned.
Held, not lent. Assets are never lent out for interest, never used to generate yield, and never used to fund the business.
Through every cycle. Ledn said the risk framework that carried client assets through the 2022 lender failures, the ones that took down many of our peers, governs every product on the platform.
Rated. Ledn’s Bitcoin-backed asset-backed security carries an investment-grade BBB- rating from S&P Global.
“Ledn was built to help clients access financial services on Bitcoin, a self-sovereign, global, digital asset. Stablecoins put dollars on the same rails. Through XAU₮, gold is there too. The world’s oldest hard asset, on its newest financial structure, run on one disciplined model,” Ledn said.
Where it is available
XAU₮ lending is live on Ledn. Availability varies by region. They are launching across most jurisdictions where Ledn operates and are not currently available in Canada or the EU.
Ledn plans to bring these new products to more markets in the coming months.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. DYOR before making any investment decision. Our Editorial Policy has been updated.
