Advancing Asset Transparency in Tokenised Gold

By CICI LU, Head of Research, Matrixdock

In today’s environment of monetary debasement fears, complex geopolitical tensions, and record central-bank purchases, demand for physical gold has surged to unprecedented levels. Against this backdrop, tokenization represents a new form of ownership that leverages blockchain technology to make access to physical bullion more transparent, verifiable, and inclusive.

A paradigm shift is underway: from the traditional model of trusting institutions to emerging systems of verifying assets independently. In the next generation of finance, where transparency and autonomy increasingly define credibility, tokenized gold offers a way to own the world’s oldest safe haven asset through the most modern form of assurance.

Tokenisation of Real-World Assets (RWAs) is one of the fastest-growing segments in onchain finance, with the potential to bring more than $400 trillion in traditional assets onto blockchain infrastructure. As the industry matures, trust and transparency in the underlying asset become critical to sustainable adoption. Commodities, particularly gold, given its long-standing role as a store of wealth, offer a clear case study of how tokenisation can modernise legacy asset classes by delivering verifiable, real-time proof of backing, enabling investors to confirm holdings with greater clarity than is typically available in traditional markets.

Matrixdock, an Asia-based RWA tokenisation platform under the Matrixport Group, is a member of both the Tokenized Asset Coalition (TAC) and the Singapore Bullion Market Association (SBMA). In July 2025, the platform completed its second independent audit of XAUm’s physical gold reserves, demonstrating how regular third-party verification can enhance transparency and investor confidence in tokenised gold.

This latest audit, conducted with institutional-level rigor and combined with modern technology, reaffirmed that each XAUm token is backed 1:1 by 99.99% purity London Bullion Market Association (LBMA)-accredited gold. It illustrates how tokenisation technology bridges the physical and blockchain worlds, making each token’s backing verifiable and traceable in real time.

Why Reserve Integrity Matters

The XAUm model integrates dual complementary verification layers: professional third-party inspections, conducted by the same auditor that serves leading gold ETFs such as SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), and a continuous, real-time blockchain-based third-party data providers such as Dune Analytics. Together, these processes provide investors with enhanced visibility into the gold holdings backing each token.

A recent semi-annual audit of the reserves backing XAUm inspected 421 pieces of LBMA-accredited 1 kg bars stored across Brink’s and Malca-Amit facilities. Each bar was individually weighed and measured to confirm its physical specifications matched vault records.

Results:

421 kg of gold = 13,534.308 troy oz.
Matching total supply of 13,534.308 XAUm tokens.
Approx. US $45 million value (at $3,335/oz).
Full audit report publicly available on Matrixdock’s website.

Bridging Physical Audits and Onchain Verification

Matrixdock’s Gold Allocation Lookup tool enables token holders to see exactly which gold bars back their holdings, with updated vault information available in real time.

This approach demonstrates how an investor can verify the exact gold reserves backing their XAUm holdings directly from their digital wallet. The interface provides full transparency down to the bullion ID, refiner, vaulting location, and the investor’s proportional ownership of each bar.

Each XAUm token is backed by 1 troy ounce of 99.99% gold. Since a standard 1 kg gold bar equals 32.148 troy ounces, a full allocation of 32.148 XAUm corresponds to one whole bar. For example:

Line 1 shows 32.148 tokens fully allocated to Bar ID HS17862 with 99.99% purity, refined by Heraeus and stored in Brink’s vault.
Line 3 shows 8.772 tokens, representing 27% ownership of Bar ID HS17868 with 99.99% purity, also refined by Heraeus and stored in Brink’s vault.

This creates a traceable link between a physical asset and a digital token, something that has historically been opaque in precious metals markets.

Raising Transparency Standards for the RWA Industry

This transparency practice, combined with semi-annual professional third-party audits, real-time allocation look-up, and onchain analytics, illustrates how tokenised assets can achieve enhanced standards of transparency compared to traditional models.

This approach strengthens confidence for both individual and institutional holders and provides a practical example of how RWA issuers can align with emerging industry best practices.

What Real-World Problem Does Tokenization Address?

Tokenisation aims to address two structural inefficiencies in the traditional gold market: limited accessibility and suboptimal capital efficiency.

By bringing the highest-quality, LBMA-accredited gold onto the blockchain, tokenisation introduces a programmable layer on the asset that enables gold to circulate and be utilised with greater flexibility.

According to Eva Meng, head of Matrixdock, “Tokenisation fundamentally shifts trust from intermediaries to verifiable on-chain data, redefining how value moves across the financial ecosystem. This transformation turns gold from a passive reserve asset into an active financial building block as a part of the next generation of financial infrastructure.”

Gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) revolutionised gold investment by offering exposure through brokerage accounts. However, ETFs are ultimately financial instruments tracking gold prices and incur management fees, which may reduce long-term returns.

Tokenised gold builds upon this model. XAUm offers ETF-like accessibility with a verifiable reserve of fully allocated gold. Token holders also enjoy flexible redemption options, from physical 1 kg bar deliver (available subject to eligibility and jurisdiction) to stablecoin settlement. In essence, tokenisation merges digital market accessibility with the tangibility of real gold ownership.

Purchasing physical gold through dealers or banks remains the most conventional form of investment but is constrained by pricing fragmentation, logistical frictions, and balance sheet inefficiency. Premiums, insurance, and transport costs vary across jurisdictions, leaving gold as a non-productive, static and high maintenance asset once acquired.

Tokenisation addresses these inefficiencies by offering modern solutions. Through blockchain-based representation in a unified onchain ecosystem, tokenised gold such as XAUm can potentially be used as collateral with decentralised finanance (DeFi) applications to borrow against stablecoins or cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin with instantaneous settlement, without the need to physically move bars from vaults and manual transfer across multiple accounts, which significantly improves asset mobility, collateral velocity, and overall capital efficiency.

Building a Sustainable Tokenised Gold Model

For tokenied gold to achieve adoption at scale, the model must balance user accessibility, price transparency, and ecosystem utility. XAUm addresses these objectives with a simplified pricing structure. With all-in mint and redemption prices published in real-time and no ongoing storage or transaction fees, this streamlines the investment journey, making gold investment more accessible for participants.

A common question from traditional market participants centres on the economic viability of this model. The answer is that its sustainability derives from network scalability driven by broader user accessibility and new revenue sources when tokenised gold attains transactional velocity within a programmable, onchain financial system.

At a foundational level, and consistent with traditional market-making frameworks, pricing remains anchored to the global spot gold benchmark, with narrow spreads between minting, redemption, and secondary-market trading that reflect custody, liquidity, and operational costs.

As Singapore strengthens its role as a global hub for both bullion trade and digital-asset innovation, the convergence of precious-metals expertise and blockchain transparency is shaping a more efficient, trustworthy, and interconnected future for gold as an asset class. Platforms like Matrixdock are contributing to building the foundational technology that will support this evolution of gold as an asset.

This article is based on material from the article “Advancing Reserve Transparency in Tokenized Gold”, published by the Tokenized Asset Coalition (August 2025).

These materials are provided for general informational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice, financial advice, an offer, solicitation, or recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any digital asset, or to engage in any specific investment strategy. XAUm and any related products or services are subject to jurisdictional and regulatory restrictions and may not be offered, distributed, or made available in certain jurisdictions (including, without limitation, Hong Kong and Singapore).

CICI LU is the Head of Research at Matrixdock. Cici has over a decade of experience across capital markets and digital assets. A former institutional banker turned digital-asset advocate, she focuses on bridging the knowledge gap between traditional finance and the emerging RWA economy, connecting macroeconomic perspectives with on-chain tokenization innovation.