Tether shutters Alloy, ends gold-backed aUSD₮ experiment

Tether announced a phased shutdown of Alloy by Tether and the aUSD₮ stablecoin. New users can no longer open positions or mint aUSD₮. Existing users have until Sept. 17 to unwind positions and reclaim collateral.

Alloy was launched as an experimental platform to create digital assets backed by tokenized gold. The platform’s main product, aUSD₮, let users deposit Tether Gold (XAU₮) as collateral to mint an overcollateralized, dollar-denominated token.

The company said it reviewed user activity, market demand and strategic priorities and decided to reallocate resources. The announcement identified offerings with stronger demand and deeper liquidity, including direct exposure to XAU₮, as priorities for the Tether ecosystem.

Over the past year tokenized real-world assets such as Treasury products, money-market funds and some tokenized commodities have seen growth. The company noted that markets for borrowing against tokenized assets have not developed at the same pace as direct tokenized exposure.

The announcement stated Alloy did not reach the scale or liquidity Tether considered necessary to continue aUSD₮. The closure ends Tether’s experiment with a gold-collateral lending model on-chain.

Tether said support resources will remain available to help users through the wind-down and the Sept. 17 deadline for reclaiming collateral.