Wintermute expands institutional OTC to tokenized gold, projects $15B market (UK)
Wintermute has opened an institutional over-the-counter desk focused on gold-backed tokens, offering execution in PAXG and XAUT. The product is designed for asset managers, trading desks and other professional counterparties that require deep liquidity, minimized slippage and rapid onchain settlement for large-lot trades.
The timing of the launch reflects sharp growth in tokenized bullion markets: reported trading volume reached $126 billion in Q4 2025, and onchain gold market capitalization rose from $2.99 billion to $5.4 billion in three months — an increase approaching 80%. Wintermute says its execution algorithms will route liquidity across venues and rails to reduce execution cost for large counterparties and speed settlement relative to ETF cycles.
The desk supports pairings with major stablecoins such as USDT and USDC, major cryptocurrencies, and fiat rails, enabling instant hedging and collateral mobility. That capability aims to let institutions migrate bullion exposure into decentralized finance strategies or back into traditional custody with fewer operational frictions than conventional ETF redemptions.
Wintermute projects the tradable tokenized-gold market could approach $15 billion by 2026 as institutional adoption accelerates. The firm argues that continuous onchain liquidity and algorithmic execution can replicate the structural growth patterns that scaled FX into a top-tier global market.
Industry developments beyond Wintermute’s product also help explain rising institutional interest. New token designs that embed yield — for example, tokens that pair price exposure with interest generated by secured lending against stored bullion — are expanding the set of use cases for onchain gold and drawing yield-seeking capital into the space. At the same time, large private buyers accumulating physical metal at scale are tightening available inventories, a dynamic that has supported price rallies and changed competitive supply dynamics for token issuers.
For Wintermute and other market-makers, these shifts create both opportunity and complexity: the desk can serve as an execution hub for a wider range of tokenized products (price-only wrappers, yield-bearing tokens, and issuer-specific constructs), but it must also manage counterparty risk across token issuance models and custody arrangements.
Operational questions remain central. Institutions will demand transparent proof-of-reserve processes, independent custody attestation, and clear settlement-finality guarantees before allocating significant AUM to tokenized gold. Wintermute’s offering reduces execution friction, but it does not remove dependence on offchain custody, auditing, and issuer redemption mechanics.
Regulatory fragmentation across jurisdictions increases compliance friction for cross-border OTC trades settled on public blockchains. Market participants executing large tokenized bullion trades are likely to build legal and operational wrappers — including explicit AML/KYC protocols, custody SLAs and dispute-resolution arrangements — to manage these frictions.
If liquidity trends persist, incumbent ETF providers and custodians could face pressure to introduce faster-settling products or native tokenized offerings. Conversely, token designs that introduce onchain yield or rely on concentrated physical inventories raise distinct contagion risks if counterparties fail or redemptions accelerate.
In sum, Wintermute’s institutional OTC desk stitches professional-grade execution into a rapidly evolving tokenized bullion ecosystem. By pairing algorithmic routing with multiple settlement rails, the product aims to become a practical conduit for institutions moving gold exposure onchain — but its success will hinge on robust custody proofs, counterparty diligence and an evolving regulatory framework.
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