BlockBeats news: On January 15, HashKey Exchange, the largest* licensed digital asset trading platform under HashKey Holdings Limited (3887.HK), a Hong Kong-listed company, officially launched Tether Gold (XAUt). Professional investors can trade it via the over-the-counter (OTC) large-order trading interface, Marketplace. This move marks the first time that gold, a traditional safe-haven asset, has been traded in a compliant manner on a licensed trading platform in Hong Kong.
Tether Gold (XAUt) is a gold token product launched by Tether, with each XAUt representing one troy ounce of gold in the form of a London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) deliverable gold bar. By simply holding XAUt, users can own gold in the form of a blockchain-based digital token, avoiding the inconvenience of physical gold delivery, storage, and transfer. Investors can directly allocate their digital assets into gold through the HashKey OTC mechanism, without the need to switch platforms.
Michelle Cheng, Director of HashKey Exchange, said: "In traditional investment environments, gold often requires a separate account or offline channels for allocation, making it difficult to adjust promptly during market fluctuations. We aim to promote the more efficient circulation of RWA assets represented by gold in the digital environment. With the launch of XAUt, users can now buy, sell, and convert gold just like managing other digital assets. This is a concrete implementation of our efforts to address the challenge of gold's illiquidity within a compliant framework."
As of January 15, 2026, HashKey Exchange ranks 17th on CoinGecko, making it the highest-ranked licensed virtual asset trading platform in Hong Kong.