According to Iggy Ioppe, former chief investment officer at Credit Suisse and now chief investment officer (CIO) at liquidity infrastructure firm Theo, gold prices will move to blockchain networks after US futures markets close for the weekend.
CME gold futures will stop trading on Friday at 5:00 PM ET and reopen on Sunday at 6:00 PM ET. During this time, the regulated futures markets are inactive, and most of the remaining activity comes through private exchanges in Asia that are not publicly reported. As a result, tokenized gold assets such as PAX Gold (PAXG) and Tether Gold (XAUt) become the only permanent trading venue.
“In terms of publicly visible price formation, onchain markets are responsible for virtually 100% of weekend price discovery,” Ioppe told Cointelegraph.
He added that when futures trading resumes, prices often coincide with movements that have already occurred in blockchain markets. “We see the weekend’s moves reflected when the CME reopens,” he said.
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The capital of the gold market reaches 4.4 billion dollars
This transition comes amid increased trading volume for tokenized gold. As Cointelegraph reported, bullion has expanded rapidly over the past year, adding about $2.8 billion in value and growing from about $1.6 billion to $4.4 billion in market capitalization.
The sector’s market capitalization grew 177%, far outpacing the broader gold market and most major spot gold ETFs, while the number of holders nearly tripled with more than 115,000 new wallets. This increase accounted for nearly a quarter of all net inflows to the real assets (RWA) sector and exceeded the combined expansion of tokenized stocks, corporate bonds and non-US Treasuries.
Trading activity also increased, with tokenized gold recorded at $178 billion in 2025 and $126 billion in the fourth quarter. This level would make it the second largest gold investment product in the world by trading volume after SPDR Gold Shares.
Ioppe said that market makers and cross-regional liquidity providers have a dominant presence and arbitrage price differences between digital and traditional markets. Crypto macro-traders also play an important role, using tokenized gold not only for exposure to stock market prices, but also for collateral, hedging and income strategies during periods of geopolitical or macroeconomic uncertainty.
“Some institutions will monitor the gold markets over the weekend, especially the macro and asset desks that track the gap risk before the CME opens,” he said, noting that most institutions see the signal as informative rather than as a basis for active positioning.
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24/7 tokenized gold trading allows investors to manage risk
Tokenized gold markets allow for continuous trading, offering a practical risk management advantage. If a geopolitical event occurs when futures markets are closed, traditional participants cannot adjust positions. Tokenized markets allow for immediate rebalancing.
On Saturday, the benchmark gold rose as geopolitical tensions rose after the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, and investors moved into XAUT and PAXG, while Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) fell. According to CoinMarketCap, XAUT briefly rose above $5,450 and PAXG touched $5,536 before paring gains during the day.
However, Ioppe said adoption still faces obstacles. Liquidity remains smaller than that of futures funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs), making it more difficult to execute large trades without changing prices. “Regulatory strength is improving, but fragmentation across jurisdictions slows institutional expansion. Rules for holding, accounting and capital still vary widely,” he said.
For now, tokenized gold is expected to work alongside traditional products, not replace them. “The next possible evolution is that tokenized and traditional markets exist in parallel, each performing a different function,” concluded Ioppe.
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