The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.

One of the industry's biggest private holders of gold is pulling the plug on one of its smaller experiments.

Tether said on June 17 that it will begin winding down Alloy by Tether and its associated token, aUSDT token. The decision was taken after reviewing user activity, market demand, and its broader business priorities.

Tether is better known as the issuer behind USDT, the largest stablecoin in the world. A stablecoin is a digital token designed to hold a steady value, usually one dollar. Most are backed by actual dollars or short-term government debt.

Related: Largest private gold holder shuts down Bitcoin mining operations

The key point is that Tether is not abandoning gold. Tether Gold (XAUT) is staying and is, in fact, one of the "core products" Tether says it wants to focus on.

What's going away is Alloy, the platform that let users mint the dollar-pegged aUSDT on top of that gold, and the aUSDT token itself.

Launched in 2024, aUSDT was an overcollateralized token pegged to the dollar but supported by Tether Gold (XAUT), Tether's separate token that represents ownership of physical gold.

Tether framed the move as a reallocation of resources toward products with stronger demand and deeper liquidity. In simple terms, the gold-backed dollar experiment didn't attract enough usage to justify keeping it running.

As of March 31, 2026, Tether held two separate gold pools. The USDT stablecoin reserve included $19.84 billion in physical gold bars (about 4.25 million troy ounces or 132 metric tons), per its BDO-assured reserves report. Separately, its XAUT was backed 1:1 by 707,747 troy ounces worth around $3.3 billion. Combined, that's roughly $23 billion for about 4.96 million ounces, or 154 metric tons of gold.

Bitcoin, XRP surge as U.S.-Iran near peace deal

Anthony Scaramucci unveils Bitcoin target for July

'Rich Dad Poor Dad' author reveals bullish gold target

The shutdown is happening in phases to avoid a disorderly exit.

Starting immediately, users can no longer open new positions or mint fresh aUSDT. Existing holders have a three-month window to hand back their aUSDT and reclaim the underlying gold tokens.

After Sep. 17, 2026, anyone who hasn't redeemed will no longer be able to recover their XAUT through the platform.

Related: Tether CEO launches new US-based stablecoin

This story was originally published by TheStreet on Jun 18, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.