A prominent whale, identified today by market analyst Lookonchain, has completely dumped his ETH holdings after experiencing an $18.8 million loss over the past two weeks, now decided to pump his entire Ether funds into XAUT (Tether Gold).
XAUT, also commonly known as Tether Gold, is a digital (tokenized) gold backed by physical gold. The digital token was launched by Tether, the firm behind the operation of the USDT stablecoin, in January 2020. With the move to tokenize the hard asset on blockchain, Tether aims to make gold more accessible and convenient for both institutional investors and even retail customers.
According to a revelation discovered by Lookonchain, the whale has so far spent a massive $36.04 million to buy 7,546 XAUT tokens at an average price of $4,786, a holding that now sits on a $2.3 million unrealized profit.
Why The Whale Dumps ETH for XAUT
As per the analyst’s observation, since January 13, the whale has been executing continuous buy orders for XAUT, steadily topping up his digital gold positions. By exiting his ETH positions, the big investor diverted the capital to XAUT. As for now, this dedicated whale holds a total of 7,546 XAUT, with an estimated value of $38.34 million.
The whale’s transaction is crucial as it showcases investors’ move toward buying the tokenized gold, XAUT, as a defensive asset. It indicates a rising risk aversion among some big investors as volatility in the larger cryptocurrency market persists, as tangible assets and RWAs continue to attract financial funds amid heightened macroeconomic difficulties.
Amid intense excitement over the physical gold wealth possession, on-chain smart wallets are making aggressive moves to accumulate tokenized gold assets.
The Buying Coincides with Gold Reaching New ATH
The whale’s buying decision coincides with global gold prices climbing to a new all-time high of 5,100 per ounce early today, Monday, January 26, 2026. With the new climb, gold extended a historic rally as global investors continue to pump capital into the safe-haven asset amid soaring geopolitical uncertainties. Gold’s price surged above $5,000 today, as investors once again rushed to put their funds into the safe haven asset amid the increased Trump trade tariff crisis and policy changes. Investors’ FOMO buying the safe haven asset comes after the US President Trump threatened to slap Canada with 100% tariff amid business negotiations with China.
Gold’s soar to new heights is an indicator that crypto investors are considering XAUT as a reliable, flexible, and safe haven to capitalize on the RWA trend directly on the blockchain. As big investors are aggressively acquiring XAUT, DeFi funds are intensely moving towards the RWA landscape to hedge capital against persistent macro volatility.
