Tether Unveils aUSDT: A New Gold-Backed Digital Currency For Payments – Details

Tether, the issuer of the largest stablecoin in the cryptocurrency market, USDT, announced Monday the creation of a new synthetic dollar backed by gold. The token, aUSDT, was developed on the company’s Alloy by Tether platform. 

By leveraging smart contracts on the Ethereum Mainnet blockchain, users can mint aUSDT by over-collateralizing it with another Tether token representing the value of gold.

According to the announcement, Alloy by Tether, developed by Moon Gold NA S.A. de C.V. and Moon Gold El Salvador S.A., both members of the Tether Group, serve as the foundation for the newly launched token. 

In the words of Tether’s CEO Paolo Ardoino, Alloy is an open platform for creating collateralized synthetic digital assets and will soon be part of the company’s new digital asset tokenization platform that will launch later this year. 

Furthermore, Alloy enables the creation of various “tethered assets,” potentially including yield-bearing products. The platform’s stabilization strategies, such as over-collateralization with liquid assets and secondary market liquidity pools, will reportedly ensure the price stability of these assets. Ardoino further stated on the matter:

We are thrilled to announce the launch of Alloy by Tether, introducing a class of digital assets backed by gold and tethered to a reference fiat currency. While the stabilization mechanism is different compared to traditional options like USD₮, this innovative solution marks an exciting milestone, and we eagerly anticipate how it will interact with the rest of the market. Moreover, we plan to make this innovative technology available in our upcoming digital asset tokenization platform as well.

Tether Gold (XAUt), the underlying asset for aUSDT, boasts a market capitalization of approximately $573 million. The physical gold that backs Tether Gold is reportedly securely stored in Switzerland.

The stablecoin issuer contends that this gold-backed digital asset allows users to engage in transactions, payments, and remittances using a currency similar to the US dollar while retaining their ownership of gold-backed digital assets.

Tether has experienced substantial financial success with its USDT stablecoin, generating a profit of $4.5 billion in the first quarter alone, as reported in its attestation. However, the quality of assets backing stablecoins like USDT has faced increased scrutiny from regulators. 

Incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, Tether reached settlements with the New York Attorney General and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in 2021, resolving allegations related to reserves disclosure and transparency.

Overall, Tether’s introduction of a gold-backed synthetic dollar, aUSDT, represents another milestone in expanding the company’s stablecoin offerings. By leveraging the Alloy by Tether platform, users can now access a digital asset that combines the stability of the US dollar with the intrinsic value of physical gold. 

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com