Binance lists USDT gold options as gold trades near $4,676

Gold traded near $4,676 an ounce as Binance listed European-style gold and silver options on July 29, cash-settled in USDT through its ADGM-regulated Nest Exchange.

"We've seen strong demand for our commodity perpetuals since introducing them earlier this year, and commodity options build on that momentum," Shunyet Jan, head of exchange and trading at Binance, said.

The listing follows USDT-settled metals perpetuals Binance introduced in January. MEXC launched zero-fee gold and silver futures in January, quoted in USDT and USDC pairs. Hyperliquid offers perpetual swaps on oil, the S&P 500, and gold, while S&P Dow Jones Indices licensed the S&P 500 to Trade[XYZ] on March 18 — the first licensed perpetual on that benchmark. Gold spot traded near $4,676 an ounce on August 25 against the $5,597 peak set on January 29.

Central banks bought an average of about 1,000 tonnes of gold a year over the past four years, double the 500-tonne average of the preceding decade, the World Gold Council's 2026 reserves survey found. Of its 76 respondents, 89 percent expect global official holdings to rise over the next 12 months.

One margin balance, many markets

Wojciech Kaszycki, founder and chairman of Mobilum Technologies, described the shift in what a crypto balance represents. "The only difference is that we are not saying now spend your crypto. We are saying deposit your crypto, use it as a collateral, borrow against it and use your wealth freely," Kaszycki said.

Bruno Caratori, co-founder and global chief executive of crypto asset manager Hashdex, pointed to Hyperliquid as the venue where that logic went furthest. "You can go on Hyperliquid and trade a perpetual swap of oil, of the S&P 500, of gold," Caratori said.

Ostium lists a comparable book of commodity and equity index perps, cash-settled in stablecoins. "Very contrarian thesis at the time when we first started the company that perpetuals were going to be the largest category in blockchain and that TradFi or traditional asset perpetuals would be the biggest blockbuster product to come out of crypto after stable coins," said Kaledora Kiernan-Linn, co-founder and chief executive of Ostium.

Why gold is the wedge

Streamex issues a gold-backed token, GLDY, that pays up to 4 percent annualized yield by leasing the metal to jewellers through partner Monetary Metals. "Now all of a sudden gold is no longer the pet rock that sort of sits there. You actually have an interest component to it," chief executive Henry McPhie said.

Tether has moved its own capital the same way, buying 70 percent of Adecoagro for about $600 million, a South American sugar and dairy producer. Reuters reported the aim is to embed USDT in physical commodity settlement.

The regulatory environment has shifted as well. On March 17, the CFTC joined the SEC in a joint interpretation separating digital commodities from securities and covering airdrops and staking. "For far too long, American builders, innovators, and entrepreneurs have awaited clear guidance on the status of crypto assets under the federal securities and commodity laws. With today's interpretation, the wait is over," CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said.

What is worth tracking is that a large exchange picked USDT as the settlement currency for traditional-asset contracts, that MEXC and Hyperliquid arrived at the same answer, and how regulators outside ADGM treat the contracts next. If stablecoin-settled commodity derivatives gain traction beyond the Gulf, they could reshape how traditional asset exposure is priced and margined across crypto venues.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.