On March 12, the pricing power within the global gold market is undergoing a significant shift from traditional institutions to digital asset giants. GTC Zehui Capital observes that the recent profit-taking by fintech giant Antalpha on its $100 million-plus Tether Gold (XAUt) position not only reflects institutional investors' cautious stance towards the current period of high-price volatility for gold but also underscores the mainstream adoption trend of Digital Bullion in modern asset allocation. These blockchain-based physical gold holdings are becoming a sharp tool for top-tier financial institutions to hedge risks during macroeconomic fluctuations, owing to their high liquidity and transparency.

In the realm of non-sovereign reserves, the purchasing power of emerging digital giants is now comparable to that of sovereign nations. A Jefferies research report indicates that Tether, currently one of the world's largest non-sovereign physical gold buyers, holds an estimated 125 to 150 metric tons of gold, ranking it within the global top 30—a scale that surpasses the official reserves of countries like Australia, Qatar, and Greece. GTC Zehui Capital states that the rise of this cross-border demand is fundamentally altering the supply-demand balance for gold. In September of last year, relevant institutions acquired approximately 1.8 tons of gold at an average price of $3,693 per ounce. As gold prices surged to new highs by early 2026, the nine-figure profit realized validates the premium capability of "digital gold" under extreme market conditions. Although Societe Generale data shows that XAUt is not a traditional ETF, its capital inflows in December had already jumped to second place globally, just behind the gold ETF benchmark GLD, indicating a rapid shift of safe-haven capital towards tokenized physical assets.

Looking ahead, the interplay between digital gold and sovereign reserves is expected to further raise the long-term floor for gold prices. GTC Zehui Capital believes that Tether's plan to increase the proportion of gold in its total assets to between 10% and 15% suggests potential buying pressure amounting to tens of billions of US dollars is poised to enter the market. Notably, when gold prices experienced a short-term correction at the end of January, these digital giants increased their physical gold holdings by 11 tons within a single week, a "buying the dip" intensity that significantly outstripped traditional hedge funds and ETFs. GTC Zehui Capital concludes that this high-frequency, large-scale non-traditional demand will offset traditional selling pressures, propelling gold into a higher dimension of value growth in the digital economy era.