Tether has officially gained access to a $3 trillion capital market. On July 27, 2026, its gold token, XAUt, officially received Sharia certification from advisory firm Amanah Advisors.
The decision came after an assessment team reviewed XAUt’s product structure and concluded it aligns with strict Islamic financial rules. The token qualified by meeting three technical criteria: full backing by physical gold, operation without interest or leverage, and verifiable reserve transparency. Under its mechanics, each XAUt token represents exactly one fine troy ounce of physical gold stored in a Swiss vault facility.
These gold reserves maintain a dominant position in the market. Tether’s report as of March 31 shows XAUt is backed by more than 707,000 troy ounces of physical gold, representing a market value exceeding $3.3 billion on the open market.
Targeting Gulf and African Investors
This Sharia approval opens a direct path for Tether to market its product to global Islamic financial institutions bound by religious compliance rules. Its primary target markets now include Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states, South Asia, and parts of Africa - an economic bloc currently managing combined assets worth over $3 trillion.
XAUt has firmly positioned itself as one of the largest tokenized gold products in the crypto industry. Data from analytics platform RWA.xyz shows that XAUt’s onchain asset value climbed from around $700 million in July 2025 to $2.5 billion today.
Tether’s expansion coincides with growing momentum across the Middle East to develop its digital asset infrastructure. Dubai has emerged as the region’s primary crypto hub. Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has already issued 50 licenses to virtual asset service providers, outpacing Asian crypto hubs like Hong Kong and Singapore in adoption.
A New Chapter for Institutional Adoption
The entry of crypto products into Islamic finance has been gradually pioneered by several entities. In 2025, Bahrain’s AlAbraaj Restaurants Group set a precedent by adopting a Bitcoin treasury strategy, followed by plans to launch BTC-based Sharia financial instruments. This trend continued in April 2026 when Palm Azgar Finance expanded the reach of its Sharia-compliant stablecoin PUSD to the ADI Chain network.
However, the entry of a player of Tether’s scale brings a different magnitude of impact. For Islamic fund managers that previously remained on the sidelines of the crypto market, this physical gold certification eliminates regulatory ambiguity, turning onchain tokens into a fully legitimate portfolio hedging option.
Reported by Cointelegraph.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only, not financial advice. Cryptocurrency assets are highly volatile and carry significant risk. Always do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
