Tether Gold Passes KPMG Audit: Can It Beat America’s Biggest Gold Fund?

Tether Gold (XAUT) has cleared a KPMG audit of its gold reserves, a transparency milestone for the tokenized-gold product as it positions itself against traditional bullion funds. The token, issued by Tether, is backed one-to-one by physical gold and competes with the SPDR Gold Shares fund (GLD), the largest U.S. gold ETF, on size, fees and access for American investors. The audit gives XAUT a verified reserve attestation that could strengthen its appeal among crypto-native and institutional holders seeking gold exposure on-chain. How XAUT's market capitalization and trading volumes compare with GLD's roughly $70 billion in assets will determine whether the token can meaningfully challenge the incumbent fund. What to watch next: whether U.S. investors gain easier regulated access to XAUT and whether the audit prompts other tokenized commodity issuers to pursue similar attestations.