Tether, the company behind the USDT stablecoin USDT$1.0006is working with cryptocurrency miner financial firm Antalfa to raise at least $200 million for a new digital asset vault for tokenized gold, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Planned vehicles will be stockpiled Zout$3,753.81a blockchain-based token backed by physical gold bars stored in a Swiss vault. XAUT is the largest tokenized gold product on the market, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.5 billion.
Antalpha is known as the main lender for Chinese cryptocurrency mining equipment manufacturer Bitmain, providing supply chain and margin loans.
The report follows the announcement on Monday of an expanded partnership between Tether and Antalfa to launch a dedicated hub for XAUT-backed lending, custody, and token redemption services. Antalfa then said it plans to work with partners to open vaults in major financial hubs and allow users to exchange digital tokens for physical gold.
Tether is expanding beyond issuance of its flagship USDT token, the largest stablecoin with $174 billion in supply, with investments across Bitcoin BTC$122,476.54 Mining, payments, energy, and artificial intelligence (AI). The company was a lead investor in XXI Capital, a Bitcoin treasury firm founded earlier this year, alongside Bitfinex and SoftBank, which shares ownership with key management teams. Tether is also reportedly seeking to raise funding at a valuation of $500 billion to fuel expansion.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino has been a vocal proponent of gold as a hard asset, and according to testimony in June, Tether had $8.7 billion of the yellow metal on its balance sheet.
