DBS Tokenized Gold Targets Retail Clients, Not DeFi

DBS Bank will launch a tokenized gold product backed by one gram of physical gold per token. The gold sits in DBS's own vaults in Singapore. The bank said its wealth management clients doubled their physical gold holdings in the three years leading up to the announcement.

The tokens represent direct ownership of the underlying metal. They will trade on DBS Digital Exchange, the bank's existing platform for crypto assets. DBS is the first major Asian bank to offer tokenized gold to retail customers.

Tokenized gold is not new in crypto. Paxos launched PAX Gold in 2020. Tether followed with XAUT the same year. Both let investors hold gold-backed tokens on public blockchains and use them across decentralized exchanges and DeFi protocols. DBS's product differs in two ways. The custodian is the issuing bank itself, not a third-party vault operator. The token runs on a private permissioned network, not a public chain.

For the crypto sector, the launch signals banks are moving tokenized real-world assets into retail channels. DBS already operates a regulated digital exchange for Bitcoin, Ether, and other major coins. Adding tokenized gold expands the menu of assets available on the same platform – without requiring clients to custody crypto or manage private keys.