Large holders of crypto assets have once again turned their attention to tokenized gold, taking advantage of the correction in spot prices. This week, the management company Abraxas Capital withdrew millions of dollars in Tether Gold (XAUT) from centralized exchanges, and according to on-chain data, this move is far from isolated.
Whales have become active amid the mixed dynamics of gold in July. At the beginning of the month, prices showed confident growth, but then a correction followed, triggered by escalating geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran. Experienced players seem to have perceived this dip as an opportunity to increase their positions.
Record outflow of XAUT: on-chain data
According to analytics from the Onchain Lens platform, Abraxas Capital withdrew approximately 3,931 XAUT (about $15.96 million) from four major trading platforms simultaneously. The distribution of funds is 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.
Lookonchain also recorded activity from an anonymous whale (wallet 0xD20E), who resumed accumulating XAUT after a three-year pause. Over the past three days, 953 XAUT worth about $3.93 million were withdrawn from Binance. This indicates that interest in the asset is returning at a high level.
Data on XAUT flows on exchanges confirms the scale of the trend. According to Nansen, the net outflow of tokens from exchanges over the last 24 hours amounted to $17.4 million. This figure is approximately 16 times higher than the daily average. An analysis of the weekly dynamics is also impressive: over seven days, the net outflow of XAUT exceeded $34.1 million, which is four times the average weekly volume.
Mixed signals: not all whales are buying
However, the global picture is not so clear-cut. Amid large-scale purchases, there is also a significant redistribution of assets. One major participant withdrew about 2,900 XAUT in a day (approximately $11.8 million), while another reduced their balance by 757 tokens over the same period.
The two largest tracked wallets (0x77134c and 0x28c6c0) have reduced their positions by more than 5,000 XAUT each over the last 30 days. This selling pressure somewhat weakens the bullish sentiment formed by the overall outflow from exchanges.
It is important to understand that Tether Gold is pegged to physical gold, so its dynamics will correlate with spot prices. Future signals from the US Federal Reserve and the foreign policy agenda could significantly influence the behavior of the largest holders.
My analysis: The current situation is a classic example of divergence in interests. Some whales are likely hedging risks associated with geopolitics and macroeconomic uncertainty by moving XAUT into cold storage. However, the parallel reduction of positions by other major players hints at profit-taking or capital flowing into other assets. In the short term, this creates volatility, but the long-term trend toward tokenization of real-world assets (RWA), particularly gold, remains one of the strongest in the industry.