SmartGold and Chintai have announced a $1.6 billion initiative to tokenize physical gold for U.S. IRAs, enabling investors to hold gold as digital tokens on a blockchain.

This initiative allows the tokenization of $1.6 billion in vaulted gold assets, making it one of the largest deployments of tokenized gold for U.S. retirement accounts and reflecting a growing trend of turning real-world assets into digital tokens.

Partnering with Chintai Nexus, SmartGold aims to facilitate investment in vaulted gold through self-directed US IRAs, addressing key challenges for retirement savers by balancing gold’s stability with income-generating potential.

Gold continues to gain momentum as an inflation hedge, with Comex gold futures reaching $3,557 per ounce—up 34% year-to-date—driven by geopolitical uncertainties, central bank buying, and inflation concerns.

The current political and monetary landscape, including questions over Federal Reserve independence and discussions of rate cuts at the Jackson Hole symposium, underscores gold’s role as a safe haven.

Market projections by Boston Consulting Group estimate the RWA tokenization market could reach $16 trillion by 2030, highlighting the sector’s significant growth potential.

Major financial institutions like BlackRock are entering the RWA tokenization space, exemplified by their tokenized fund BUIDL, indicating mainstream adoption of this innovative trend.

Demand for tokenized gold is rising, with entities such as the International Precious Metals Bullion Group and Tether expanding their offerings, the latter reaching a tokenized gold value of $1.3 billion.

Tokenized gold is maintained on regulated platforms and can be used as collateral in DeFi lending markets, allowing investors to unlock liquidity without moving physical gold, which remains insured and vaulted.

Each gold token is backed one-for-one with physical gold, enabling its use as collateral in DeFi protocols like Morpho and Kamino, thus providing new liquidity and reinvestment opportunities within regulated retirement accounts.

Self-directed IRAs, offering tax benefits similar to traditional IRAs but with broader asset options like cryptocurrencies and real estate, now constitute 2% to 5% of the $10.8 trillion US IRA market.

BioSig has pivoted toward tokenization through a merger with Streamex, securing $1.1 billion in growth financing for on-chain gold and commodities, further fueling the sector’s expansion.