(Kitco News) - After a solid two-year uptrend that culminated in record highs last year, Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market have seen a significant decline. The tokenized gold market, however, has been a bright spot in the digital marketplace, according to Swyftx Pty Ltd, an Australian-based cryptocurrency trading platform.
According to the company’s latest quarterly report, the total crypto market cap fell approximately 40% from its peak in the first quarter of 2026.
Although Bitcoin managed to find some support at $60,000 a token, prices have been stuck below the $80,000 level for the last three months.
“A resilient March did see Bitcoin hold up better than other major indices (such as the Nasdaq and ASX 200), perhaps revealing a sliver of positivity as we look toward the rest of the year. But the data tells a more solemn story: the cold winds of a crypto winter have likely set in,” analysts at Swyftx said in the report.
However, tokenized commodities, led by the gold market, saw significant growth in the first three months of the new year.
“Adoption of blockchain-based gold tokens grew 2.6x faster than its physical counterpart, with the market cap for tokenized gold surpassing $5 billion USD for the first time,” the analysts said.
The solid growth in tokenized gold comes after its market cap grew by 65% last year.
The report added that Tether Gold (XAUt) continues to lead the charge, representing 45% of the total market share. XAUt saw 40% growth in Total Value Locked (TVL) in the first quarter.
In an interview with Kitco News, Kurt Hemecker, CEO of Gold Token S.A., the tokenization arm of precious metals giant MKS PAMP, said that he sees significant appetite for digitized real-world assets, and gold continues to lead the way.
“In general, we're still feeling a pretty bullish attitude from institutions, as they're diving into this market,” he said.
Although the market has seen significant growth in the last year, Hemecker pointed out that the tokenized gold market is still just a small segment of the massive $23 trillion gold market.
He added that he expects demand to continue to grow as the gold market continues to find its footing above $4,700 an ounce.
