Tether’s tokenized gold piles into DeFi as Aave takes the lion’s share

Tether Gold (XAUT) has seen significant adoption in decentralized finance, with total deposits across DeFi platforms reaching $102.9 million by early September 2026. Aave has emerged as the dominant venue for this activity, capturing 74.2% of all XAUT DeFi deposits through its V3 and V4 markets. This growth represents a 91.7% increase in Aave-based deposits over a ten-week period ending in mid-August 2026. While Uniswap remains a key liquidity provider, its relative share of total deposits is declining as users increasingly utilize XAUT as collateral for stablecoin loans. Despite this momentum, the amount of XAUT utilized in lending protocols accounts for only 1.5% of the combined market capitalization of leading tokenized gold products. Tether further expanded the supply in late September 2026 by minting approximately 119,670 XAUT tokens valued at $495 million. This massive supply increase significantly outpaces current DeFi usage, raising questions about whether the new tokens will drive further lending demand or remain largely idle. The concentration of deposits within Aave highlights a critical dependency for the tokenized gold market as it seeks to integrate physical bullion into on-chain financial systems.