Major market players have become active again in the tokenized gold segment, using the correction in spot prices to aggressively accumulate the asset. Over the past 24 hours, the net outflow of Tether Gold (XAUT) from centralized exchanges reached $17.4 million — approximately 16 times the daily average. These figures come from an analysis of on-chain metrics I conducted based on data from leading blockchain platforms.
The key event was the withdrawal of approximately 3,931 XAUT (about $15.96 million) by investment firm Abraxas Capital from four major trading venues simultaneously. The transactions were distributed as follows: 760.244 XAUT ($3.09 million) from Bitfinex, 940.207 XAUT ($3.82 million) from OKX, 230 XAUT ($934,000) from Bybit, and 2,001 XAUT ($8.12 million) from Binance.
Anonymous wallets join the trend
At the same time, activity from anonymous participants is also being recorded. One "whale" (wallet 0xD20E) resumed accumulating XAUT after a three-year hiatus. Over the past three days, 953 tokens — worth about $3.93 million — were withdrawn from Binance. This signals a renewed long-term interest in the asset from large holders who were previously inactive.
The seven-day dynamics are also impressive: the net outflow of XAUT exceeded $34.1 million, four times the average weekly value. Such a sustained withdrawal of tokens from exchanges is traditionally interpreted as preparation for long-term storage — investors are moving assets to cold wallets with no plans to sell them in the near future.
Mixed signals: not all whales are playing the same side
However, the overall picture is not so clear-cut. Despite the strong inflow into cold storage, the two largest tracked wallets (0x77134c and 0x28c6c0) have reduced their balances by more than 5,000 XAUT each over the past 30 days. One participant withdrew about 2,900 XAUT ($11.8 million) in a single day, while another decreased their position by 757 tokens over the same period.
This creates an intriguing imbalance: on one hand, we see a classic bullish signal in the form of outflows from exchanges; on the other, pressure from the largest holders who are taking profits or reallocating capital. Such divergence requires caution when interpreting.
Interest in tokenized gold is not limited to XAUT alone. Paxos Gold (PAXG) is also showing notable net outflows from exchanges, confirming the overall trend of rising demand for digital equivalents of the precious metal.
My analysis: The current dynamics of XAUT indicate that institutional players and large private investors view the gold correction as an entry opportunity. However, pressure from the two largest holders suggests we may see local profit-taking before the next phase of growth. The key catalyst will remain macroeconomic signals, especially the rhetoric of the U.S. Federal Reserve and geopolitical tensions around Iran. I recommend closely monitoring the balances of these "whales" — their actions will set the direction of movement in the coming weeks.