{"id":14702,"date":"2025-02-24T14:17:01","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T14:17:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=14702"},"modified":"2025-02-24T14:17:01","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T14:17:01","slug":"bitcoin-is-better-than-gold-tokenized-inflation-hedging-sweeps-rwa-markets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=14702","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin is Better Than Gold: Tokenized Inflation Hedging Sweeps RWA Markets"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Guest Author: Kevin Rusher, founder of real-world asset platform, <\/i>RAAC.io<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

Around half the gold stored by the United States Treasury \u2014 about 147.3 million ounces \u2014 is locked up in a specially designed and heavily guarded vault. This is Fort Knox \u2013 a massive fortress in Kentucky that underscores just how precious the shiny yellow metal is. Although, as recent headlines have highlighted, we\u2019re not entirely sure on that figure.<\/span><\/p>\n

For millennia, gold has captivated our imaginations. It\u2019s malleable, it\u2019s conductive \u2014 and, of course, it\u2019s attractive. From ancient Egypt to the gilded palaces of Renaissance Europe, gold has stood for permanence, power, and beauty.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, it\u2019s almost axiomatic that gold holds its value extremely well. Gold\u2019s usefulness, scarcity, and historical resilience make it a trusted store of wealth during times of economic uncertainty and market volatility.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Investors still turn to gold in tough times. That\u2019s as true today as it was when ancient Greek kings fleeing the Persian armies dragged cartloads of gold behind them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hedge of All Hedges<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In recent times, and especially since 2019, gold has posted strong annual returns as global instability\u2014from the COVID-19 pandemic to war in Ukraine and Gaza\u2014has reaffirmed the asset\u2019s importance as a reliable hedge against risk.<\/span><\/p>\n

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(XAUUSD<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Last year, in particular, was the best year for gold since 2010. In 2024, gold returned 27.2% \u2014 second only to Bitcoin in terms of global market returns \u2013 4% more than US large caps, 17% more than US small caps, and nearly 20% more than emerging market equities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In other words, gold is as attractive an investment today as ever, and this is unlikely to change. While crypto has enjoyed a strong run over the past 12 months, gold\u2019s strong performance underlines the political and economic instability we are facing globally. And, sadly, this looks unlikely to ease any time soon.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Investing in gold\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As an investor, there are several ways to access gold. There are gold futures and options which many \u2013 especially institutional investors \u2013 use to hedge against inflation and other risks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For retail (or \u201caverage\u201d) investors, it\u2019s Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), which allow fractionalized and low volatile access to gold. Through ETFs, retail investors can easily own gold directly through an investment fund with low fees.<\/span><\/p>\n

While an ETF allows you to hold gold, and futures and options allow you to speculate on its price, however, the world of decentralized finance (DeFi) is opening up many more opportunities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the uninitiated, the tokenization of so-called \u201creal-world assets\u201d (RWAs) is the conversion of ownership rights to an asset like gold, real estate, stocks, or even art, into digital tokens like NFTs, for example, on a blockchain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These tokens represent a fraction of the asset and can be securely traded, transferred, or stored on the blockchain. This gives the investor full transparency and traceability of the asset right from the moment they purchase it.<\/span><\/p>\n

While it\u2019s early days for the concept, RWA tokenization has been hailed as a promising application of blockchain technology. Interest boomed in 2024, buoyed by support from financial magnates like <\/span>BlackRock CEO Larry Fink<\/span><\/a>, who said that the tokenization of stocks and bonds would be a more valuable use of blockchain than even Bitcoin. Indeed, the total market size of tokenized RWAs <\/span>hit<\/span><\/a> $186 billion in 2024 \u2013 increasing 32% in just the first 3 quarters of the year alone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tokenized gold<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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(Source<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Tokenized gold has now <\/span>surpassed<\/span><\/a> $1.7 billion in market capitalization \u2013 and that\u2019s only a fraction of the opportunity ahead. Indeed, the total market capitalization of gold currently stands at more than <\/span>$18 trillion<\/span><\/a> (and that is just the gold that is out of the ground).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Tether and Paxos \u2014 perhaps best known as stablecoin issuers \u2014 currently lead the gold tokenization sector, being streets ahead <\/span>in terms of market <\/span><\/a>capitalization. Tether\u2019s XAUT token has a market cap of around $715 million, while Paxos\u2019 PAXG hovers around $600 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

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