Tether discontinued its aUSDT gold-backed stablecoin after limited adoption. The $1.2 million product will be fully wound down by Sept. 17. Tether is focusing on XAUT, its flagship gold token with a $3 billion market cap.
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Tether discontinues aUSDT, its $1.2M gold-backed stablecoin, to focus on XAUT
Tether Holdings Ltd. discontinued support for aUSDT, a dollar-pegged stablecoin backed by Tether Gold (XAUT), after a review of user activity and market demand found limited adoption for the $1.2 million product.
"After careful review, we have decided to focus our resources on products where we see stronger user demand, deeper liquidity and broader long-term market opportunity," a Tether spokesperson said.
The company blocked new aUSDT minting and position creation immediately on June 17. Existing holders have until Sept. 17 to redeem their tokens and reclaim XAUT collateral. aUSDT, launched in June 2024, was an overcollateralized derivative built on Ethereum that let users deposit XAUT as collateral to mint a dollar-pegged token. The product's market capitalization stood at $1.2 million, backed by 14.73 kilograms of gold worth about $2.2 million, according to Tether.
The wind-down follows Tether's broader retreat from experimental stablecoin products. The company discontinued its offshore Chinese yuan stablecoin CNHT in February and its euro stablecoin EURT in November 2025, citing low demand and regulatory hurdles. Tether is concentrating resources on its flagship gold token XAUT, which has a $3 billion market capitalization backed by 22,169 kilograms of physical gold, and on ventures outside stablecoins including Bitcoin mining, artificial intelligence and robotics.
XAUT remains Tether's primary commodity exposure. The token's market cap surged earlier this year when gold prices hit an all-time high above $5,300 per ounce before retreating 19 percent. Tether also bought a 12 percent stake in precious metals platform Gold.com for $150 million in February, with plans to integrate XAUT into the platform.
The company's strategic pivot extends beyond gold. Tether led German tech company NEURA's $1 billion funding round on June 11 and has invested in Bitcoin mining infrastructure, cloud computing and robotics. Its asset tokenization platform Hadron, launched in 2024, represents another growth area outside the stablecoin business that built Tether's $140 billion-plus USDT empire.
The aUSDT shutdown is unlikely to ripple through broader markets given its small size, but it signals Tether's willingness to kill products that fail to gain traction. The company's core USDT stablecoin, with a market cap exceeding $140 billion, remains the dominant dollar-pegged token across crypto markets.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
