Gold’s rally to fresh record highs is boosting demand for tokenized versions of the metal, underscoring investors’ continued preference for defensive assets amid lingering macro uncertainty.
Tether Gold (XAUT), the largest gold-backed token by market capitalization, climbed to a new all-time high of $4,425. Pax Gold (PAXG) and Kinesis Gold (KAU) also advanced, lifting the total market value of gold-linked tokens to about $4.38 billion.
“The message is straightforward: investors are still hedging macro risk rather than fully embracing risk assets,” said Timothy Misir, head of research at BRN, in an email. “That divergence continues to weigh on broader crypto enthusiasm, even as liquidity conditions improve.”
Bitcoin — often likened by supporters to digital gold — rose to roughly $89,800 as the U.S. dollar softened and gains in technology stocks pushed Asian equity markets higher. Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and Samsung Electronics led the advance, easing concerns around an overheated AI trade. S&P 500 futures gained around 0.3%, pointing to a positive start for U.S. markets.
Even so, signs of a sustained crypto recovery remain elusive as institutional flows have cooled. Global digital asset investment products recorded net outflows of $952 million last week, marking the first weekly outflow in four weeks, according to CoinShares.
Derivatives pulse
Stability in spot markets has yet to translate into renewed risk-taking in derivatives. Futures positioning is mixed, with bitcoin, ether, HYPE and BNB seeing modest increases in open interest over the past 24 hours, while several other major tokens experienced capital outflows.
Leveraged bitcoin longs continue to build on Bitfinex — a pattern historically associated with prolonged bearish phases. Meanwhile, BTC’s 30-day implied volatility remains anchored near 45%, pointing to muted price action into year-end. Ether’s 30-day implied volatility slipped to 70%, its lowest level since early October.
On the CME, open interest in bitcoin futures dropped below 120,000 BTC for the first time since early 2024, signaling reduced institutional participation. In perpetual futures markets, BCH, SHIB, WLFI and TON are trading with negative funding rates, indicating a bias toward short positioning, while funding for major assets remains slightly positive.
Options flows on Deribit remain mixed. Block trades included both bitcoin call and put spreads, while ether traders focused on calendar spreads. Overall, puts in BTC and ETH continue to trade at a premium to calls, though the downside skew has eased slightly since Friday.
Token talk
Curve DAO has voted down a proposal to transfer 17.45 million CRV tokens — valued at roughly $6.3 million — to Swiss Stake AG, a firm led by Curve Finance founder Michael Egorov that manages core protocol development.
The proposal, which aimed to fund infrastructure, security and development work for Swiss Stake’s 25-member team, failed with 54.46% voting against and 45.54% in favor. On-chain data show wallets linked to Yearn Finance and Convex Finance cast nearly 90% of the votes opposing the measure.
Despite the rejection, CRV rose about 4% over the past 24 hours, outperforming the broader market. Over the same period, the CoinDesk 20 index gained 0.35%.
Several DAO members cited concerns around spending transparency. “The DAO deserves a clear, itemized breakdown of expenses and should not approve additional funding until that level of disclosure is provided,” one member wrote.
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