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Potential demand for digital gold could reach $700 billion

21 October 2026 17:03 (UTC +04:00)

Although the global physical investment gold market is valued at approximately $13 trillion, digital gold accounts for less than 1% of this market. However, growing interest in new digital products and expanding investment opportunities create significant potential for growth in this segment, APA-Economics reports, citing the World Gold Council.

According to the information, the current size of the digital gold market is estimated at between $45 billion and $55 billion. Tokenised gold (an asset representing physical gold or rights to it in digital form – ed.) generated $90 billion of cumulative spot trading volumes in the first quarter of 2026, more than in the whole of 2025.

According to the study's baseline scenario, the digital gold market could grow by an average of 27% annually, reaching $160–170 billion by 2031. In the long term, potential unmet demand in this market could rise to as much as $700 billion.

"If this potential demand is fully realized, the size of the digital gold market could reach approximately the same level as the current market for physically backed gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs)," the report noted.

For reference, tokenised gold is a digital asset backed by physical gold, with each token representing a certain amount of physical gold. Tether Gold (XAUT) and Paxos Gold (PAXG) hold the largest shares of the market, together accounting for more than 90% of the segment.