Gold tokens shift from storage to mine production and yield

Spot trading in tokenized gold reached $90.7 billion in the first three months of 2026, already beating all of 2025, according to CoinGecko’s RWA Report 2026, as reported by FinancialContent. The total market capitalization of gold tokens exceeded $6 billion in February 2026, with more than 1.2 million troy ounces represented. Most of these tokens, such as PAX Gold (PAXG) and Tether Gold (XAUT), let the holder gain exposure to the metal’s spot price, but do not pay income or yield based on gold production or sales.

For now, a typical gold token represents ownership of a specific amount of vaulted metal. Buyers can trade tokens freely or, if the structure allows, redeem them for physical gold. However, they do not receive any share of the revenue or profit made by gold miners, refiners, or storage providers. As a result, the only return on these tokens is from the change in gold’s spot price. Any yield sometimes offered comes from lending activity on decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, not from the gold itself.

A new token, called CAH, takes a different approach. According to FinancialContent, the CAH token is issued by PT. Cahaya Selatan Gemulang, an Indonesian mining company that claims to produce around 20 kilograms of gold per day, with plans to increase output. The project's structure aims to give token holders a share of operational profits linked to ongoing mine production. This means that potential returns to buyers are not only based on gold prices but also on the mine’s output, costs, and the ability to convert mine revenues into profit to distribute.

From a physical gold buyer’s angle, this is a significant shift. While traditional tokens can be redeemed for vaulted gold, which simply tracks the spot price, a production-based token could generate a form of yield if the underlying operation is successful and transparent. However, this depends on a set of factors not present in classic gold tokens: whether actual production is verified, whether the calculation and distribution of profits are independently audited, and if legal or operational risks are clearly disclosed. The ability to verify mine output, costs, and revenue sharing is essential for any production-based yield claim.

We believe transparency is the main dividing line for these gold tokens. A token backed by securely vaulted gold is generally auditable with regular third-party attestations of inventory and redemption claims. A token tied to ongoing mine production and profit sharing adds more complexity, requiring reliable reporting on daily mine output, actual sales, costs, and proof of distributed yield. For the buyer, the main question becomes whether these details are disclosed clearly, verified by independent sources, and updated in a way that can be trusted. As new models for gold tokenization develop, that audit trail will likely be the most important factor shaping what buyers actually own.

Source: The 2.0 Era of Gold RWA: Cahaya | FinancialContent

This article is general information, not investment advice. Facts from other publications are their reporting, linked above.