Tether Gold (XAU₮), the world’s largest tokenized gold product by market capitalization, saw its investor holdings increase by 9.5% in the second quarter of 2026. This reflects strong demand for direct, fully backed exposure to physical gold, even as gold prices fell 14.1% during the quarter. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino noted that investors continued to accumulate XAU₮ during gold's sharpest quarterly correction in 13 years, indicating that buyers are using market weakness to increase their ownership of physical gold through the transparent and accessible on-chain product.