Tether has unveiled Scudo, a new unit of account for its tokenized gold product, Tether Gold (XAU₮), in a move aimed at making gold easier to use for everyday transactions as global demand for the precious metal reaches record levels.
Under the new system, one Scudo represents one-thousandth of a troy ounce of gold, effectively dividing XAU₮ into smaller, more intuitive units.
Tether said the change does not alter the structure, backing, or legal framework of Tether Gold, which remains fully backed by physical gold stored in secure vaults and verifiable on-chain through the company’s asset-tracking tools.
Gold prices surged to historic highs throughout 2025, driven by persistent inflation concerns, interest-rate uncertainty, record central bank buying, and renewed appetite for safe-haven assets.
While interest in gold has grown, its use as a medium of exchange has remained limited, largely because pricing goods or services in fractional ounces can be cumbersome and impractical.
Tether said Scudo addresses this usability challenge by introducing a simpler denomination, similar in concept to how satoshis made Bitcoin more practical for daily use.
Instead of dealing with long decimal fractions of XAU₮, users can price and transact in Scudo units, making gold-backed value easier to understand and transfer.
“Gold is once again proving its role as the ultimate store of value alongside Bitcoin,” said Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino.
He added that Scudo lowers the barrier to entry by allowing users to price and transact even very small amounts of gold more intuitively, an important step for broader adoption.
The announcement also builds on Tether’s broader infrastructure push, including its Wallet Development Kit (WDK), which allows developers and companies to build self-custodial wallets that support XAU₮, Bitcoin, and other stablecoins across devices and operating systems.
As of December 2025, Tether Gold has seen accelerating adoption among investors seeking long-term wealth preservation and portfolio diversification without the storage and custodial complexities of traditional gold ownership.
Its market capitalization has doubled in recent months, reflecting rising demand for tokenized real-world assets.
Tether said Scudo is designed to complement this growth by making gold not just a store of value, but a more practical medium of exchange in a digital economy.