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Tokenized gold has exceeded $4 billion in market value, with products such as PAX Gold and Tether Gold increasingly used for savings and wealth protection in regions facing currency devaluation and limited banking access, according to CoinGecko data. New partnerships and platforms in Africa, Asia, and Sub‑Saharan markets are enabling fractional gold ownership, faster cross‑border transfers, and FX swaps. At the same time, regulatory uncertainty, custodial risk, and limited user education remain major obstacles to wider adoption.

The Kingdom of Bhutan has launched TER, a gold-backed cryptocurrency issued on the Solana blockchain and distributed by DK Bank, where each token is tied to a fixed quantity of physical gold held in institutional custody. The structure is intended to provide a regulated way for investors to gain digital exposure to gold while retaining traditional asset backing. TER is part of Bhutan's broader blockchain strategy, which includes Bitcoin reserves, planned holdings of Ethereum and Binance Coin, and a national digital identity system on Ethereum, according to the project details.

Bhutan will launch TER, a sovereign gold-backed token issued on the Solana blockchain, on December 17, 2025, positioning the nation as one of the first to tokenize government-regulated gold reserves. Distributed through DK Bank and unveiled via the Gelephu Mindfulness City initiative, TER gives global investors compliant, on-chain access to audited, sovereign-overseen physical gold.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has approved class relief that removes separate Australian Financial Services licensing requirements for intermediaries distributing certain stablecoins and wrapped tokens. The measures also permit the use of omnibus account structures, which industry participants say will lower costs, improve efficiency and support broader real-world stablecoin use cases. The shift comes as global stablecoin market capitalization exceeds $300 billion.

State Street and Galaxy Asset Management plan to launch the State Street Galaxy Onchain Liquidity Sweep Fund (SWEEP) on Solana in early 2026, offering institutional investors an onchain liquidity product, according to the firms. The fund will support subscriptions and redemptions in PYUSD stablecoin, target Qualified Purchasers, and has secured a roughly $200 million seed commitment from Ondo Finance. The product is structured as a multi-chain solution, with Stellar and Ethereum integration to follow. It is designed to simplify institutional cash and real-world asset management on public blockchains.

At its Institutional Gala in Dubai, Bybit said it has secured full authorization under the UAE's Virtual Asset Platform Operator framework and outlined plans for a regulated, institution-focused digital asset platform. The exchange reported that institutional asset inflows rose from about $1.3 billion in Q3 to $2.88 billion in Q4, with assets under management increasing from $40 million to $200 million over the same period. Bybit also upgraded its INS Credit Suite to offer up to 5X leverage and support custody-based real-world asset tokens, while cutting Market Maker Gateway execution latency from 30 milliseconds to 5 milliseconds.

On 11 December 2025, Superstate launched a platform that enables U.S. companies to issue new tokenized shares on public blockchains such as Ethereum and Solana and accept investor funds directly in stablecoins. The framework preserves existing securities filings while shifting primary equity distribution onchain to target instant settlement and lower issuance costs. Initial live issuances are planned for 2026, aiming to broaden investor access.

Several tokens launched in Q1, including TRUMP, MELANIA, Layer, Plume, GoPlus Security, and Bubblemaps, have fallen 86%–99% from their issue prices as circulating supply surged, according to Tokenomist. In most cases, freely trading float roughly doubled within three months, intensifying selling pressure while capital rotated into Bitcoin, Ethereum, and real world asset tokens.

In November 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ended a two-year investigation into Ondo Finance without recommending enforcement action. The probe, launched in October 2023, examined Ondo's tokenized U.S. Treasury products and whether the ONDO token should be classified as a security under then chair Gary Gensler and later Paul Atkins.

On Monday, the CFTC introduced a pilot program that lets qualified futures commission merchants use Bitcoin, Ether and payment stablecoins such as USDC as margin collateral in regulated U.S. futures and swaps markets. Acting Chairman Caroline Pham framed it as a controlled test of tokenized collateral, with enhanced reporting, a no-action letter permitting segregated custody of certain digital assets, and withdrawal of 2020 guidance that discouraged crypto collateral. If successful, the trial could extend the role of stablecoins and tokenized Treasuries across clearing, margining and settlement infrastructure on Wall Street.