In a year where gold prices have shattered records, surging to $5,000 per ounce amid global economic turbulence, Bitget’s tokenised gold trading volume has exploded by 4,900%, pushing the exchange past $1 billion in tokenised stock spot volume.
As retail and institutional investors flock to digital versions of this timeless hedge, Gracy Chen, Chief Executive Officer of Bitget—a leading Universal Exchange (UEX)—attributes the boom to gold’s macro stability fused with crypto’s 24/7 accessibility.
“When markets feel uncertain, people instinctively look for something familiar,” Chen tells Invezz in an exclusive interview, emphasising how tokenised assets like gold stablecoins Tether Gold (XAUT) and Pax Gold (PAXG) are democratising commodities trading.
Chen, who spearheaded Bitget’s Traditional Finance (TradFi) suite to $4 billion in daily volume, sees tokenised gold as a gateway for crypto users venturing into Real World Assets (RWAs).
With Total Value Locked (TVL) in tokenised gold jumping from $1 billion to over $4 billion globally in 2025, she highlighted retail demand for simplicity and institutional interest in efficient collateral.
In the interview, Chen discusses RWAs’ path in 2026, institutional barriers, and gold’s role as a core hedge in volatile markets, blending tradition with blockchain innovation.
Below are edited excerpts:
Macro stability and 24/7 accessibility
Invezz: Bitget just crossed $1B in tokenised stock spot volume with a 4,900% surge in tokenised gold trading—how much of that reflects gold’s macro hedge role amid prices hitting record highs?
Gracy Chen: A large part of that surge is very clearly macro-driven.
When markets feel uncertain, people instinctively look for something familiar to hedge in, and gold has played that role for centuries.
What’s different now is how people access it. Tokenised gold lets users react in real time, without waiting for market hours or navigating traditional brokers.
That combination of a trusted asset and crypto-style accessibility is powerful, especially when volatility is high.
Retail simplicity vs. institutional efficiency
Invezz: With tokenised gold TVL jumping from $1B to over $4B globally in 2025, what’s driving retail vs. institutional demand on Bitget in early 2026?
Gracy Chen: Retail users are drawn to the simplicity. Gold is easy to understand, and tokenization makes it feel approachable inside the same interface they already use for crypto.
Institutions, on the other hand, are motivated by efficiency, faster execution, cleaner collateral management, and the ability to express macro views without rebuilding their entire workflow.
Both groups are responding to the same uncertainty, but in very different ways.
Invezz: Gold stablecoins like XAUT and PAXG are booming—how does Bitget’s gold-backed employee bonus ($100 in gold stablecoin) signal broader adoption plans for 2026?
Gracy Chen: That decision was very intentional.
I wanted our team to use these instruments, give us genuine feedback as we keep advancing them.
Paying part of a bonus in gold-backed stablecoins was also a part of what our employees wanted from us.
These are real formats of value, and everybody eventually will want to get a piece of this cake.
Invezz: As tokenised metals now lead RWA growth, how is Bitget positioning tokenised gold against traditional spot markets in terms of liquidity and 24/7 access?
Gracy Chen: Traditional gold markets are deep and liquid, but access is often constrained by hours, geography, and intermediaries.
Tokenised gold isn’t replacing that, it’s simply modernising access.
The goal is to let people treat gold like any other digital asset, always available, instantly transferable, and usable alongside everything else they hold.
That’s what makes it relevant in a global market that is always switched on.
Tokenised gold as natural RWA bridge
Invezz: Your TradFi suite hit $2B daily volume shortly after launch—what role is tokenised gold playing in bridging crypto users to commodities trading?
Gracy Chen: Gold is the most natural bridge. Crypto users already think in terms of hedging and volatility.
When they see gold inside the same environment they use for BTC or ETH, it feels intuitive rather than foreign.
It’s often the first step people take when they move from purely crypto exposure into broader asset classes.
Most recently, we’ve hit $4 billion in daily volume, which attests to the sentiment that tokenised gold is very much here to stay.
Invezz: With gold and silver at all-time highs, is tokenised gold seeing active risk rotation or more long-term holding on Bitget?
Both. During sharp moves, you see more tactical behaviour, short-term hedging, rotations and quick reactions.
But there’s also a growing number of users using tokenised gold as a long-term anchor in their portfolio.
It’s not about chasing returns, it’s about creating stability during uncertain times.
Institutional hurdles and AI tools
Invezz: Bitget’s UEX model blends tokenised stocks, commodities, and RWAs—how do you see tokenised gold evolving as a core hedge in volatile 2026 markets?
Gracy Chen: Tokenised gold will likely become a core hedge in most portfolios. The real value isn’t that gold exists; it always has.
The value is that it now lives in the same system as crypto, stocks, and stablecoins.
People don’t want ten platforms; they just want one place where they can rebalance quickly when conditions change.
Invezz: Institutional participation hit 82% in some tokenised areas per Messari—what barriers remain for bigger players to scale tokenised gold on platforms like Bitget?
Gracy Chen: Institutions need boring answers, how custody works, how backing is verified, how settlement behaves under stress.
Once those questions are routine and transparent, scale follows. The interest is already there but it’s the operational side that still needs to catch up.
Invezz: Tokenised RWAs overall are pushing toward $490B forecasts by end-2026—where does tokenised gold fit in Bitget’s roadmap for compliant, multi-asset convergence?
Gracy Chen: Gold is the most natural entry point into RWAs. It’s universally understood and trusted.
If someone becomes comfortable holding gold on-chain, it’s much easier for them to accept tokenised bonds, funds, or equities later.
It’s a bridge between old mental models and new infrastructure.
Invezz: As gold surges amid macro uncertainty, how are Bitget’s AI tools, like GetAgen,t helping users trade tokenised gold more effectively than legacy platforms?
Gracy Chen: I don’t think AI should promise predictions. What it can do is reduce friction, highlight relevant signals, explain context and help users act with more clarity and less emotion.
These are the areas that have always been central in why we built GetAgent, to help users act faster with more clarity.
In volatile markets, that’s the real advantage: not knowing the future, but making calmer, better-informed decisions.
The post Interview: Tokenised gold set to become core portfolio hedge amid volatile 2026 markets, says Bitget CEO Gracy Chen appeared first on Invezz
