Tether Shuts Down Gold-Backed aUSDT After Two Years
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- Tether is winding down Alloy by Tether and its gold-backed, overcollateralized aUSDT stablecoin after two years, following a review of user activity, market demand, and broader company priorities.
- aUSDT holds a market cap of $1.2 million and is backed by 14.73 kilograms of gold worth roughly $2.2 million; users have three months to redeem their holdings, with the cut-off date set for September 17.
- XAUT, Tether's standalone gold-backed token, remains in demand with a $3 billion market cap backed by 22,169 kg of physical gold, though its market cap has retreated 19% from an earlier peak when gold hit just over $5,300 per ounce.
- The aUSDT shutdown is Tether's third product discontinuation this year, following the February exit of its Chinese yuan stablecoin CNHT and the November wind-down of its euro stablecoin EURT, both blamed on low demand and regulatory friction.
- Tether is simultaneously diversifying beyond stablecoins, leading German tech company NEURA's $1 billion funding round on June 11 and acquiring a 12% stake in precious-metals platform Gold.com for $150 million in February.
- Alloy by Tether let users deposit XAUT as collateral to mint aUSDT at overcollateralized ratios via Ethereum smart contracts, giving them dollar-like liquidity without selling their gold exposure.
Why it matters: This is Tether's third product cull in under a year (CNHT, EURT, now aUSDT), a pattern of pruning small-cap stablecoin experiments — aUSDT sits at just $1.2 million versus XAUT's $3 billion — while pouring capital into AI, robotics, and physical gold infrastructure via the $1 billion NEURA round and a $150 million Gold.com stake.
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