PAX Gold (PAXG) is a gold-backed token from Paxos, each token representing one fine troy ounce of London Good Delivery gold held in Brink's vaults and audited monthly. Issued by a NYDFS-chartered trust, it is redeemable for physical bullion or cash and is one of the two largest tokenized gold products. PAXG scores 89/100 (Tier 1) on the RWTS Trust Score, near the top of our corpus, on full allocated backing, regulation and monthly attestation. It pays no native yield; returns come purely from the gold price.
- Issuer / protocol
- Paxos
- Jurisdiction
- United States (New York)NYDFS-chartered trust
- Backing
- 1 troy oz fine gold (Brinks vaults, LBMA)
- Redemption / lock-up
- None
- Audit & proof of reserves
- Independently audited
- Availability
- Global
- Chain
- Ethereum
- Tier
- Tier 1 — Physically-Backed RWA
- Contract
- 0x4580…a7cc
Scored on the published RWTS methodology (v1.1), reviewed quarterly and on material events. Ratings are independent and never pay-influenced.
Source: Monthly Withum attestation. Point-in-time disclosure, not a live feed; weights move with issuance and policy.
PAXG is a tokenized claim on London Good Delivery gold bars vaulted at Brink's, so price tracks spot gold one-for-one minus the small Paxos custody fee. The same drivers that move physical gold (real rates, USD, central bank flow — see KAU) move PAXG. The differentiator vs other tokenized gold is regulatory: Paxos is NYDFS-chartered, which makes PAXG the only mainstream gold token that institutional US allocators can hold without bespoke compliance work. That regulatory wrapper is worth a small premium in normal conditions and a much larger premium during periods of elevated counterparty/jurisdictional concern.
The structural gold tailwind from central bank buying applies to PAXG identically to physical and to other tokenized-gold products. The interesting PAXG-specific question is whether US institutional allocation to tokenized gold reaches an inflection point in the current cycle. NYDFS coverage is the gating factor for that flow — if it materialises, PAXG captures an outsized share because alternatives like XAUT remain offshore-only for compliance purposes. Watch the public balance sheets of crypto-native asset managers and treasury programs for gold allocation — incremental adds there are early signals.
- ›All KAU watchlist items (real rates, CB flow, ETF flows, DXY)
- ›PAXG market cap relative to XAUT — share gain = institutional rotation
- ›Crypto treasury programs disclosing gold allocations (MicroStrategy-style)
- ›Stablecoin issuer reserve composition reports — any rotating cash into PAXG
- ×Loss of NYDFS standing (would collapse the regulatory premium)
- ×Material PAXG-specific operational incident (vault, custody, redemption)
- ×A regulated alternative wrapper from a larger institutional issuer (e.g. State Street, BNY)
Editorial macro context · refreshed each methodology cycle · not investment advice
Calculations are indicative. Actual yields may vary.
Price data from CoinGecko. Not financial advice.
Projections assume constant APY of 0.00%. Actual returns may vary. Not financial advice.
NYDFS-regulated Paxos issuer; monthly attestation; physical redemption available to qualified holders.
Methodology v1.0 · independent rating · published rubric · no issuer payments
Allocated London Good Delivery gold held in Brink's vaults; 1 PAXG = 1 fine troy ounce.
Monthly third-party attestation by WithumSmith+Brown; on-chain PoR not yet real-time.
Direct redemption for physical gold for qualified holders; on-chain to fiat at par for retail.
Multiple smart contract audits (Trail of Bits, ChainSecurity); ongoing bug bounty.
Regulated by NYDFS as a New York limited-purpose trust company.
Live since 2019, no material incidents.
PHYSICAL_RWA_MONTHLY_ATTESTATIONMonthly attestation by WithumSmith+Brown LLP; allocated London Good Delivery gold bars vaulted at Brinks. No continuous on-chain PoR — physical commodities cannot be verified on-chain by structure. Latest attestation reports at paxos.com/transparency.
REDEMPTION_THRESHOLD_430PAXGDirect physical bar redemption requires 430 PAXG minimum (one ~400oz London Good Delivery bar) plus a Paxos account with full KYC. Below the threshold, holders sell on Paxos exchange or third-party venues for fiat at spot — no fractional physical redemption.
Caveats document operational realities that don't change the dimensional score but shape practical use.
Beyond PAXG's own score, two structural questions matter: what is it built on, and what has broken before in this part of the market. A high score in isolation can still carry hidden, shared exposure.
What this and similar assets are built on, and where contagion could spread.
The depegs, defaults, and exploits that inform the Track Record dimension.
Liquidity read: TVL of $2.18B indicates deep on-chain liquidity. Lock-up: None.