Gold bars are stacked in vaults in Hong Kong and Singapore. This week they got an address on Circle’s Arc blockchain, which now has its first tokenized gold asset.
Matrixdock, which issues the token, says qualifying sellers can have their cash the same day. However, its own rulebook says three working days.
The First Tokenized Gold Asset Still Waits Three Days
In April 2025 a customer walked into a Singapore vault and walked out with a kilogram of gold. Matrixdock had turned a token back into metal. It took three days.
Each XAUm token is one ounce, held by Brink’s or Malca-Amit and traceable to a numbered bar. Matrixdock publishes the reserve reports. It also pays the auditor who checks them.
Gold moves slowly everywhere. London, the biggest market, settles two days after a trade. Matrixdock’s documentation still tells sellers to wait three working days for their money.
The same-day offer covers eligible sales only, and Matrixdock wants proof of the transaction first. The cash-out window runs on New York hours. The vaults are twelve hours ahead.
“Gold has been an institutional reserve asset for centuries, but holding it and using it have always been two different things,” said Eva Meng, head of Matrixdock, in a statement sent to BeInCrypto.
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How XAUm Compares With Bigger Gold Tokens
While XAUm promises faster cash than rivals, it asks far less of anyone who wants the metal. Paxos requires 430 PAXG for a London Good Delivery bar, and the customer arranges delivery. Matrixdock asks 32.148 tokens for a one-kilogram bar, collected in Singapore or Hong Kong.
XAUm also runs on more networks than either rival. It lists eight, including Arc. Tether Gold runs on Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain. PAX Gold added Solana in June and otherwise stays on Ethereum.
The low bar to physical metal is a real advantage for anyone who actually wants gold in hand, since $139,000 buys a collectable kilogram from XAUm while PAXG demands roughly $1.8 million before Paxos will release a bar.
However, eight chains on a $71 million token is thin liquidity spread thinner, and the reason XAUt and PAXG stay on two networks is that depth beats reach when someone needs to sell size in a hurry.
A Chain Built for Banks That Opened With Joke Tokens
Meng’s remarks come as Arc tries to prove what it is for. Circle launched the network on September 16 with Visa, BlackRock and Standard Chartered helping run it.
Day one went elsewhere, as sites for minting joke tokens took 82% of the $410.8 million traded on Arc’s opening day, BeInCrypto found.
XAUm is the smallest of the big gold tokens by value. On May 1 it was worth $70 million. Tether Gold was worth $2.52 billion and PAX Gold $2.32 billion.
XAUm’s market price sits near $4,318, about $71 million in all. Matrixdock says lending will come later. Today the gold can be sold on Arc. It cannot be borrowed against.