Ledn to Offer Tether Gold-Backed Loans, Expanding Real-World Asset Tokenization

Bitcoin lending platform Ledn is expanding its services to include Tether Gold (XAUt), giving investors the ability to hold the tokenized asset and eventually use it as collateral for loans, just as they can with Bitcoin.

Ledn announced Thursday that later this year, clients will be able to use XAUt as collateral for loans instead of selling their holdings for cash. Under the company's existing lending model, client collateral is held one-to-one and is not rehypothecated, lent out or used to generate yield.

Loans are issued and repaid in Tether’s USDT or USAt stablecoins and can be repaid at any time without scheduled monthly payments. Tether launched USAt in the United States in January as a stablecoin designed to comply with the GENIUS Act.

The launch will expand the range of digital assets that can be used as loan collateral, giving investors another way to access liquidity without triggering a taxable sale. While Bitcoin-backed lending has become a common feature of the crypto market, the addition of tokenized gold reflects growing efforts to bring real-world assets into digital asset financial services as gold prices hover near record highs.

The new products are rolling out across most jurisdictions where Ledn operates but are not currently available in Canada or the European Union.

The market capitalization of Tether Gold peaked at around $2.89 billion. Source: CoinMarketCap

Related: Tether makes $150M investment in Gold.com in latest gold play

Tokenized commodities gain traction in RWA market

The announcement comes as commodities play an increasingly prominent role in the tokenization market. According to a recent Token Terminal report, tokenized financial assets have surpassed $43 billion, with commodities accounting for nearly 17% of the market.

Unlike commodity derivatives and futures, tokenized assets such as gold are backed by the underlying asset, giving holders direct ownership while enabling faster transfers and trading on blockchain networks.

Commodities account for a bigger share of the tokenization market.

Source: Token Terminal

Tether Gold benefited from this year’s rally in bullion prices, with the token’s market capitalization expanding as gold climbed to record highs above $5,600 per troy ounce. The precious metal has since pulled back to around $4,300 an ounce but remains up on the year.