On Thursday, Tether, the powerhouse behind the widely used stablecoin USDT, announced the introduction of Scudo, a new unit of account designed to enhance the usability of Tether Gold (XAU₮).
This move comes amid a historic rally in gold prices, driven by geopolitical tensions and economic shifts, making the commodity a focal point for investors looking for stability.
Tether’s New Unit
In its press release, Tether emphasized that the Scudo unit aims to revive gold as a practical medium of payment accessible to all. Year-to-date, gold has soared nearly 70% in value, currently trading at approximately $4,482 per ounce.
In addition to Scudo, Tether introduced a new platform named WDK. This framework allows developers, companies, and even artificial intelligence (AI) agents to create, deploy, and manage self-custodial wallets that are compatible with any device and operating system, further supporting XAU₮, stablecoins, and Bitcoin (BTC).
However, Tether recognized a significant barrier that remained: for everyday transactions or pricing goods, working in fractions of an ounce can become cumbersome.
Long decimal values are often unintuitive and challenging for practical use. Scudo seeks to solve this issue by providing a simpler unit of account, akin to how smaller denominations enhance traditional currencies as functional money.
One Scudo is defined as 0.001 troy ounce of gold—1/1000 of one XAU₮—which makes it easier to price and transfer gold-backed values. This approach allows users to transact in whole or partial Scudo units instead of dealing with complex decimal fractions of XAU₮.
Paolo Ardoino On Scudo
Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s chief executive officer (CEO), commented on the significance of this development for investors, stating:
Gold is once again proving its role as the ultimate store of value alongside Bitcoin. XAU₮ makes gold digital, and now with Scudo, we are lowering the barrier to entry so that anyone can own, easily price, and transact even the smallest fraction of the historical world’s most trusted asset.
With Scudo, Tether aims to make gold a reliable store of value and a more intuitive medium of exchange, thereby promoting financial inclusion for its global user base. The firm made the following statement:
Tether Gold remains fully backed by physical gold held in secure vaults, with ownership verifiable on-chain via Tether’s asset-tracking tools. Scudo does not change the structure or backing of XAU₮, but provides a simpler way to measure and transact gold value, particularly as prices continue to climb.
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