Stablecoin issuing company Tether (CRYPTO: USDT) launched a new platform Monday that will allow the creation of gold-backed stablecoins pegged to the U.S. Dollar. 

What Happened: The new token minting platform called Alloy By Tether will help create tokens that use Tether Gold (CRYPTO: XAUt) as collateral, as opposed to the cash and cash equivalents used for backing USDT, the world’s largest stablecoin by market capitalization.

For the curious, XAUt is a tokenized version of gold, providing blockchain users ownership of real physical gold.

The first “Tethered Asset” to be produced using this concept is aUSDT, a USD-denominated token. The company said that the over-collateralized coin will help holders gain exposure to gold, a proven store of value asset, while at the same time allowing them to use it in payments and day-to-day operations.

CEO of Tether, Paulo Ardoino said that the Alloy By Tether open platform will be integrated into the upcoming Tether digital assets tokenization platform.

Why It Matters: The tokenization of real-world assets i.e, bringing off-chain assets like real estate, bonds, and commodities on blockchain rails, has emerged as one of the hottest narratives in Web3.

Earlier this year, asset management giant BlackRock launched the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), allowing investors exposure to  cash equivalents like U.S. Treasury bills through digital tokens. 

As of this writing, the tokenization industry has more than $4 billion in total value locked, according to DeFiLlama. 

Price Action: At the time of publication, XAUt was exchanging hands at $2,321.26, down 0.07% in the last 24 hours, while USDT was valued at $0.99, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Image via Shutterstock

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