Commodity tokenization up 289% to $7.37B gold

Tiger Research said on March 15 that the commodity tokenization market had expanded from $1.9 billion in early 2025 to $7.13 billion in February 2026, a gain of more than fourfold in roughly one year. The research firm said tokenized gold led the market, with Tether Gold, or XAUT, at $3.57 billion and Pax Gold, or PAXG, at $2.31 billion, together accounting for 73% of the sector. The figures circulating in social posts on Sept. 2 appear to compress and slightly restate Tiger Research’s published numbers. The underlying report that surfaced in search results says $7.13 billion for the broader commodity tokenization market in February 2026, not $7.37 billion for the full market, though gold remains the dominant use case in the report. (note.com) The Asian Development Bank, in a December 2025 brief and a related news release, said the global trade finance gap remained at $2.5 trillion in 2025, unchanged from 2023. That figure has been cited alongside tokenization data as proponents argue blockchain-based claims on real-world assets could widen access to trade and collateral markets, though ADB’s survey itself does not make that tokenization claim. (note.com) ### Where did the 289% growth claim come from? Tiger Research’s March 15 report said the commodity tokenization market grew from $1.9 billion in early 2025 to $7.13 billion in February 2026. That increase works out to roughly 275% using those endpoints, while the report’s own summary language described the market as having grown “more than fourfold in one year.” (adb.org) The 289% figure in social posts could reflect a different starting month, a different dataset cut, or rounding not shown in the public summary. Without the full underlying workbook or a direct Tiger Research clarification, the published source visible online supports rapid growth, but not the exact 289% figure as stated in the post. ### Why is gold doing most of the work here? (note.com) Tiger Research said gold “first proved the model’s effectiveness,” and its market table shows that XAUT and PAXG dominate commodity tokenization by outstanding value. The report said those two products represented 73% of the market and that tokenized gold trading volume reached $178 billion in 2025. (note.com) That concentration matters because it shows commodity tokenization is still less a broad basket of oil, metals and agriculture than a market centered on digital claims linked to vaulted gold. Tiger Research said expansion into energy and agriculture is underway, but also flagged thin trading volumes outside gold and issuer concentration as unresolved risks. (note.com) ### What does ADB’s $2.5 trillion number actually measure? ADB said its trade finance gap estimate is the only global benchmark of unmet demand for trade finance. The bank said the gap remained at $2.5 trillion in 2025, representing about 10% of global trade, and that many firms still could not obtain the financing needed to support cross-border commerce. (note.com) ADB’s survey is about rejected or unmet trade finance demand, especially for firms in developing markets, small businesses and other underserved borrowers. It is not a measure of tokenized asset issuance, but it is being used in industry discussion as a reference point for the scale of financing frictions tokenization might try to address. (adb.org) ### What should readers take away from the numbers now? The clearest verified takeaway is that Tiger Research documented a sharp rise in commodity tokenization into early 2026 and that tokenized gold accounted for most of it. The clearest verified limitation is that the publicly visible source supports a $7.13 billion market figure and gold-heavy concentration, while the exact “289%” and “$7.37 billion gold” phrasing in social circulation is not fully confirmed by the report excerpt available online. (adb.org) Tiger Research’s archive and company site indicate the firm continues to publish digital-asset market research, while ADB’s trade finance materials remain available through its 2025 survey pages and brief. Any next update to these figures is most likely to come through a fresh Tiger Research market report or a new ADB trade finance survey release. (tiger-research.com) (note.com)