Aurelion, a Nasdaq-listed company building a Tether Gold-backed treasury, has committed 10,000 units of the token, worth approximately $48 million, to a newly launched protocol designed to generate returns on tokenized gold.
The DeFi protocol,
Aurelion is the new form of wealth and asset manager Prestige Wealth and positions Tether Gold as a primary reserve asset. In October 2025, the company raised $150 million in financing, including a $100 million private investment in public equity and a $50 million debt facility, to support the strategy.
According to the Aurise Foundation’s initial announcement on Wednesday, digital asset financial services company Antalpha was also among the ecosystem partners that collectively committed 16,052 XAUT, or approximately $76 million, to launch the protocol.
XAUE generates returns through strategies such as institutional lending and quantitative trading, with returns reflected in an increase in gold coverage per token rather than being distributed individually.
The protocol runs on Ethereum and uses a fixed-supply model, converting deposited XAUT into XAUE at a ratio of 1,000:1. Under this structure, reserves can grow over time as yields increase, while token supply remains unchanged.
Users can exchange XAUE for the underlying gold-backed tokens. Access is limited to whitelisted, KYC/KYB-verified institutional participants in eligible jurisdictions, the foundation said.
Aurelion said it will own a total of 33,318 units of Tether Gold after the allocation, including 10,000 units deployed at XAUE and 23,318 units held outside the protocol.
According to data from Yahoo Finance, the Aurelion (AURE) share price rose about 2.6% in midday trading.
Aurelion stock price. Source: Yahoo Finance
Tokenized gold is moving towards yield-generating structures
Gold has traditionally been considered a non-profitable asset, providing price exposure without generating income. But tokenization, the process of displaying real-world assets like gold on blockchain networks, is beginning to introduce new structures that enable returns while maintaining exposure to the underlying commodity.
In March, crypto exchange Bybit launched a yield-bearing product tied to Tether Gold, allowing users to earn interest on tokenized gold while maintaining exposure to the underlying asset.
That same month, tokenization platform Theo introduced a yield-bearing model to support its gold-pegged stablecoin thUSD, using deposited funds to purchase tokenized gold while shorting gold futures to hedge price exposure.
In April, DeFi protocol Altura introduced an onchain gold arbitrage strategy that places user deposits into short-term physical gold trades, aiming to generate returns from price differentials rather than long-term exposure to the precious metal.
Tokenized commodities are largely concentrated in gold-backed assets, which typically provide price exposure without returns. Data from RWA.xyz shows that the sector is worth approximately $5.25 billion, with Tether Gold and Paxos Gold accounting for the largest share of the market.
Tokenized commodity market size. Source: RWA.xyz