Tokenised gold outshines crypto prices amidst political chaos

Group 1: Gold Market Performance - Gold reached an all-time high of $5,417 per ounce at the end of January 2026 and has traded above $5,000 recently, driven by political chaos and market conditions [1] - The rise in gold prices has led to a surge in tokenised gold protocols, which have been the top performers in the market since the beginning of the year [1] Group 2: Growth of Tokenised Gold - Tether Gold has increased by 62% to a market capitalisation of $3.7 billion since January 1, while Paxos Gold has grown by 48% to $2.4 billion [2] - Smaller tokenised gold players, such as Pleasing Gold and Matrixdock Gold, have also seen significant growth, with Pleasing Gold's market capitalisation reaching $102 million and a 21% increase since the start of the year, and Matrixdock Gold growing by 23% to over $69 million [6] Group 3: Market Dynamics and Investor Behavior - South Korean investors are increasingly purchasing gold-pegged stablecoins to avoid high tax bills associated with physical gold purchases, as crypto trading is not yet taxed in South Korea [4] - The appeal of tokenised gold products lies in their ability to provide exposure to gold without the tax implications of buying physical gold [4] - In the broader decentralized finance (DeFi) space, only one other protocol, Ethena, has seen growth, while many others have experienced declines in dollar value of user deposits [3]