Bitcoin lending platform Ledn has expanded its services with Tether Gold ($XAUt), allowing investors to hold the tokenized asset and borrow against it in much the same way they can borrow against Bitcoin.
Ledn announced on Thursday that customers can use it $XAUt as collateral for loans rather than selling their property for cash. Under the company’s existing lending model, customer collateral is held on a one-for-one basis and not re-mortgaged, loaned or used to generate returns.
Loans are issued and repaid in Tether’s USDT or USAt stablecoins and can be repaid at any time with no scheduled monthly payments. Tether launched USAt in the United States in January as a stablecoin designed to comply with the GENIUS Act.
The launch expands the range of digital assets that can be used as collateral for loans, 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 assets into digital asset financial services as gold prices hover near record highs.
The new products are being rolled out in most jurisdictions where Ledn operates, but are not currently available in Canada or the European Union.
Tether Gold’s market cap peaked at approximately $2.89 billion. Source: CoinMarketCap
Tokenized commodities are gaining ground in the 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 representing nearly 17% of the market.
Unlike commodity derivatives and futures, tokenized assets like gold are backed by the underlying assets, giving holders direct ownership while enabling faster transfers and trading on blockchain networks.
Commodities represent a larger 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 increasing as gold climbed to record highs above $5,600 per troy ounce. The precious metal has since fallen to around $4,300 an ounce, but continues to rise this year.