Gold Has Proven the Model. The Rest Is Next.
The commodity tokenization market grew 4x in one year, from $1.9B in early 2025 to $7.13B in February 2026.
Commodity tokenization preserves rights to physical assets while enabling fractional participation, 24/7 trading, and on-chain transparency. Gold validated the model first, with expansion now underway into energy and agriculture.
Gold: XAUT ($3.57B) + PAXG ($2.31B) account for 73% of the market. In 2025, tokenized gold traded $178B in volume, surpassing every major gold ETF except GLD and ranking as the world’s second-largest gold investment product by volume
Energy: JMWH ($861M) tokenizes electricity (MWh) but is not listed on any DEX/CEX, limiting retail access and keeping actual trading extremely thin
Agriculture: JSOY_OIL ($300M) introduced a 1 token = 1 ton soybean oil structure, but on-chain activity shows only Mint/Burn with no real trading
Tokenization does not solve everything. Gold still requires offline vault storage, proof-of-reserve does not match TradFi-grade audits, and half of the 39 products remain unregulated. Fragmented global regulation across SEC/CFTC/MiCA, systemic risk from issuer concentration, and thin volume outside gold remain open challenges.
Gold has proven that tokenization works. Energy and agriculture present significant transformation potential given existing inefficiencies in oligopolistic structures, opaque supply chains, and high entry barriers. The shift toward open participation structures is unlikely to reverse, and the pace at which these challenges are resolved will determine the market’s growth ceiling.
Amid the accelerating growth of the RWA market in 2026, commodities are also being tokenized. Please review the current types of tokenized commodities and their issuance mechanisms immediately.
Commodity Tokenization Market Grew More Than 4x
Market grew from $1.9B (early 2025) to $7.13B (Feb 2026), over 4x in one year
Market cap growth blends gold price appreciation (+77%) with new issuance; simple comparison alone does not isolate real growth
2025 tokenized gold volume of $178B exceeded all major gold ETFs except GLD, ranking 2nd globally by volume. Proves the commodity tokenization model works in practice
Fast Growth, but 73% Is Gold
15 of 39 products are gold-linked, ~73% ($5.3B) of total market cap
Top 2 gold tokens (XAUT $2.7B, PAXG $2.4B) = 71% of entire RWA token market
Other sectors (energy, agriculture, diamonds) present but negligible in scale; early-stage
Tokenized Commodity Product Comparison
Tokenized Gold, What Is Different?
Institutional physical gold trading on the London market requires $200M+ minimum. ETFs lowered the barrier but provide only indirect ownership via fund shares. Direct ownership and high accessibility could not coexist
Tokenized gold resolves this by maintaining direct claims on physical bullion while enabling fractional participation, 24/7 trading, and DeFi collateral use
How Is Gold Tokenized?
Institutional user remits fiat; Paxos buys LBMA-approved bullion, stores in allocated Brink’s London vault. Tokens minted only after physical gold secured (mint-on-demand)
Redemption reverses the flow. Tokens burned, physical gold or cash returned. Token supply fully pegged to physical gold in/outflows
Issuer buys gold on behalf of user, records transfers digitally within third-party-verified vault
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