Tokenized Gold Compared: XAUT vs PAXG vs XAUM — Backing, Vaults & Reserve Audits (2026)

Tokenized gold sounds fungible — one ounce is one ounce. But the tokens are not interchangeable once you ask the questions that actually matter: where is the metal, who attests it, how often, and how do you get your gold back. The table below compares the three leading tokens on exactly those axes, with every asset-level fact traced to the issuer’s own page rather than a price aggregator (see our methodology for why we hold that line).

The pattern that falls out of the table is the point of this page: the three tokens converge on the unit (one ounce of LBMA gold) and diverge on everything operational. The sections below take each in turn, then explain how to read a reserve report so the differences are legible the next time the figures update.

Tether Gold (XAUₜ) is issued by TG Commodities, S.A. de C.V. and launched in 2020. Per its FAQ, one XAUₜ provides ownership on a 1:1 basis of one fine troy ounce of gold on a physical bar meeting the LBMA Good Delivery standard, and tokens are fractionable to six decimal places (per Tether Gold). The token carries no custody fee; the issuer charges a one-time 25 basis points on purchase and on redemption (per Tether Gold).

On transparency, Tether Gold publishes reserve reports quarterly, with independent reports prepared by BDO Italia S.p.A. under a reasonable-assuranceengagement (ISAE 3000R) — a higher bar than the attestation standard most peers use. Its latest report, dated 31 March 2026, recorded 707,747.139 fine troy ounces held by the custodian against 707,747.090 XAUₜ in circulation, a market value of roughly US$3.3 billion at the report’s reference price (per Tether Gold).

Two practical constraints stand out. First, redemption is whole-bar only: you must hold enough XAUₜ to claim one full LBMA bar (which can run to roughly 430 ounces), with physical delivery arranged to an address in Switzerland or a cash settlement via the Swiss gold market, each at a 25 bps fee (per Tether Gold). Second, the issuer does notname its custodian or the specific vault city — it discloses that the metal is handled through Switzerland, but not the operator. US persons are prohibited from buying or redeeming XAUₜ (per Tether Gold).

PAX Gold (PAXG) is issued by Paxos Trust Company, N.A. Per Paxos, one PAXG represents one fine troy ounce of a London Good Delivery gold bar stored in LBMA vaults in London, with the metal held in custody by Paxos Trust Company. Paxos is a trust company and custodian regulated by the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) (per Paxos).

PAXG’s distinguishing features are accessibility and cadence. The minimum purchase is 0.01 troy ounce — roughly US$20 — far below the others, and there are no custody fees and zero on-chain transfer fees (per Paxos). On reserves, Paxos publishes monthly attestation reports; reports posted on or after 28 February 2025 are issued by KPMG LLP(prior reports were by WithumSmith+Brown), under attestation standards of the AICPA, with the auditor’s appointment approved by Paxos’s prudential regulator, the New York State Department of Financial Services (per Paxos).

Redemption is the broadest of the three: PAXG is the only one of these tokens redeemable for LBMA-accredited Good Delivery bullion bars, while institutional customers can also redeem for unallocated Loco London gold, or take USD at current gold prices at any time (per Paxos). We do not restate a specific reserve ounce count here because those figures live in each month’s individual attestation PDF, which we did not open line-by-line for this page.

XAUM is the reason this comparison carries an Asia-Pacific tag. It is issued by Matrixdock, a platform under BIT Group (formerly Matrixport Group)with a Singapore base. Per Matrixdock’s documentation, each XAUM represents one troy ounce of LBMA-standard fine gold of at least 99.99% purity, with a 0.25% minting and redemption fee, no storage or management fees, and a minimum investment of 32.148 XAUM — the equivalent of one 1 kg bar — purchasable with USDT or USDC (per Matrixdock).

The custody geography is the differentiator. Matrixdock’s second independent audit, dated 31 July 2025, inspected 421 LBMA-accredited 1 kg gold bars — equal to 13,534.308 troy ounces and matching the circulating XAUM supply at the time — stored across three vaults: Brink’s Hong Kong, Brink’s Singapore and Malca-Amit Singapore, each bar weighed and measured individually. The audits are run on a semi-annual basis (the first, in January 2025, verified 70 bars) (per Matrixdock). For an Asia-Pacific holder, this is the rare gold token whose metal actually sits in the region — the broader logic of which echoes the build-out documented in our Hong Kong RWA regulation timeline.

Redemption is demonstrably real, not theoretical. In April 2025 Matrixdock documented a physical redemption: a holder transferred 32.22837 XAUM (32.148 ounces plus the 0.25% fee), Matrixdock burned exactly 32.148 XAUM on-chain and the custodian released a matching 1 kg LBMA bar in Singapore (per Matrixdock). Physical redemption is available in Singapore and Hong Kong to verified holders of at least 32.148 XAUM, on a T+3 basis after KYC. As with the others, Matrixdock does not publish a specific token-level regulatory licence.

The figures above will change every quarter, month or half-year. What stays useful is a checklist for reading the next report. Five questions separate a meaningful reserve disclosure from a marketing line:

• Assurance level, not just “audited”. An attestation (PAXG, XAUM) and a reasonable-assuranceengagement (XAUT’s BDO Italia report) are different things. Reasonable assurance is the stronger standard. The word “audited” alone tells you little.
• Who signs it.A named, independent accounting firm (BDO Italia, KPMG) and a regulator-approved appointment (NY DFS for Paxos) carry more weight than an unnamed “third party”.
• Cadence and date. Monthly beats quarterly beats semi-annual for freshness — but only if the latest report is actually recent. Always check the report date against today.
• Ounces held vs tokens outstanding.A credible report states both and shows reserves ≥ tokens (e.g. 707,747.139 oz vs 707,747.090 tokens). A report that gives a dollar value but not the ounce-to-token reconciliation is weaker.
• Vault and custodian named. XAUM names its three vaults and operators; PAXG names London LBMA vaults under Paxos Trust; XAUT discloses Switzerland but not the operator. Benchmark the price against the neutral LBMA Gold Price — set twice daily in USD per ounce by ICE Benchmark Administration — but never mistake that price for proof that the gold exists.

Run those five questions over any tokenized-gold report and the comparison effectively re-builds itself, no matter how the numbers move.