Tether shuts down Alloy as XAUT becomes bigger gold bet

Tether is winding down Alloy by Tether and its gold-backed derivative stablecoin aUSDT after reviewing user activity, market demand and wider business priorities. 

Summary

• Tether is ending Alloy and aUSDT while steering users toward XAUT and core stablecoin products.
• Users can return aUSDT for XAUT until Sept. 17 before recovery through Alloy fully ends.
• The move follows Tether’s wider shift toward liquid products, tokenization, AI, robotics and infrastructure bets.

The company said it will stop support for the product in phases, starting with an immediate block on new positions and new aUSDT minting.

The move ends a product launched in June 2024. Alloy allowed users to deposit Tether Gold, or XAUT, as collateral and mint aUSDT through Ethereum smart contracts. The structure gave users dollar-like liquidity without selling their gold exposure. It also gave Tether a live test of how users treat gold-backed collateral in on-chain markets.

Users face September deadline

Tether said existing users can still return aUSDT and remove their XAUT for three months. The cut-off date is Sept. 17, 2026. After that date, users who have not returned aUSDT will no longer be able to recover XAUT through the Alloy platform.

The company said Alloy gave it data on demand for gold-backed digital assets, collateral products and tokenized real-world assets. It said it will now focus on products with “stronger user demand, deeper liquidity, and broader long-term market opportunity.” Alloy’s market cap stood near $1.2 million, backed by 14.73 kilograms of gold worth about $2.2 million, according to Tether.

XAUT stays at center of gold strategy

The decision does not mark a pullback from tokenized gold. Tether is keeping XAUT as a core product. XAUT gives users exposure to physical gold through a blockchain-based token, while aUSDT was a separate product built on top of XAUT collateral.

As previously reported by crypto.news, Tether listed XAUT on Maxbit in Thailand as demand for gold-backed digital assets grew. That report also noted that aUSDT was designed to track one U.S. dollar while relying on gold reserves rather than a standard fiat reserve model. Tether has since kept XAUT closer to its main gold plan than Alloy. 

By comparison, XAUT remains much larger, with about $3 billion in market value and more than 22,000 kilograms of physical gold backing, according to company figures. That gap helps explain why Tether is keeping the gold token while ending the smaller derivative product.

Tether trims smaller products

Alloy is not the only product Tether has cut. In February, Tether said it would stop supporting CNHT, its Chinese yuan stablecoin, due to low interest and limited community demand. The company had also stopped support for EURT, its euro stablecoin, after citing market and regulatory conditions in Europe.

These moves show a tighter product strategy. Tether is keeping focus on USDT, XAUT and infrastructure that can support larger market demand. The company has also built Hadron, its tokenization platform, and has looked at new currency products, including a planned Georgian lari stablecoin.

Tether’s product review comes as the company expands outside stablecoins. It has put money into Bitcoin mining, artificial intelligence, cloud tools and robotics. As previously reported by crypto.news, Tether joined Neura Robotics’ $1.4 billion funding round alongside firms such as Nvidia, Amazon and Qualcomm.

The company has also been active in tokenization partnerships. As previously reported, Tether signed an MoU with DMCC to explore blockchain adoption, digital payments and tokenized asset projects in Dubai. The aUSDT wind-down fits that wider shift toward products with more liquidity, clearer use cases and larger markets.