It has been a dismal yr for the crypto market. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is down 25% for the yr, whereas Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) is down 36% (as of Feb. 19). With these two market bellwethers struggling to discover their footing, virtually no main cryptocurrencies are within the inexperienced.
However there may be one sector of the crypto market that’s booming proper now: gold-backed stablecoins. The two leaders listed here are Tether Gold (CRYPTO: XAUT) and PAX Gold (CRYPTO: PAXG). Collectively, they account for 90% of the gold-backed stablecoin market. When you’re wanting to put $1,000 to work within the crypto market proper now, this might be a superb place to begin.
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It may be robust making the choice between Tether Gold and PAX Gold. Each are pegged 1-to-1 to the value of bodily gold, and each are up 15% for the yr. Each now rank among the many high 35 cryptocurrencies on this planet, and each have market caps of roughly $2.5 billion.
However PAX Gold has one clear benefit over Tether Gold: it’s absolutely regulated by U.S. banking authorities, and is usually extra accessible than Tether Gold for U.S. buyers. For that motive, PAX Gold will get my vote over Tether Gold. For a complete value of $1,000, you’ll be able to choose up about 0.2 tokens at immediately’s costs.
A yr in the past, some buyers touted Bitcoin as digital gold. It was presumed to be the one protected asset that you just wanted to have in your crypto portfolio. These fanatics thought-about it simply as useful and interesting as bodily gold. However throughout the previous 12 months, the costs of Bitcoin and bodily gold have radically diverged, and that is main buyers to query the digital gold funding thesis.
In the course of the previous 12 months, gold is up a head-spinning 71%, whereas Bitcoin has taken a critical hit in worth. For that motive, cash has now been flowing into gold-backed stablecoins. On the finish of 2025, this was a $4 billion market alternative. Simply two months into 2026, it is now a $5 billion market alternative. So long as the value of gold continues to climb, so will the demand for gold-backed stablecoins.
Traders now have a number of alternative ways to get their gold publicity. They will purchase bodily gold bars. They will spend money on gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs). And now they will spend money on tokenized gold within the type of stablecoins.
