“A token isn’t gold; the structure behind it is—and that’s where the real competition in tokenized metals is happening.” Yogi Nelson
Tokenization is no longer theoretical. By 2026, it has become a defining theme across finance—from equities and bonds to commodities. When it comes to precious metals, however, how tokenization is implemented matters far more than the token itself.
A token is not gold. The structure behind the token is the asset.
That means custody, audits, redemption rights, regulatory posture, and market integration matter far more than marketing claims.
In reviewing the leading tokenized gold issuers operating today, one thing becomes clear: there is no single “winner.” Instead, each issuer is running a different race—toward a different vision of what tokenized metals should be.
Here’s how the field lines up:
CACHE Gold → transparency and auditability
Comtech Gold → trade and settlement infrastructure
Kinesis → re-monetizing gold and silver as money
Paxos (PAXG) → institutional compliance and regulatory clarity
T-Gold (SchiffGold) → sound-money preservation
Tether Gold (XAUT) → liquidity and global reach
Tokenization is not a template. It’s a toolkit.
Some issuers optimize for institutions. Others for velocity, trade finance, or individual ownership. The common thread is this: tokenization is shifting precious metals from static holdings toward programmable financial infrastructure.
That is the real story—and why issuer design now matters more than the token symbol itself.
Today, gold is once again being repositioned—not as a domestic currency, but as international settlement infrastructure. This time, however, it is being paired with something previous systems lacked: blockchain-based verification and settlement rails.
The emerging combination of gold, the proposed UNIT, and the mBridge settlement system, strengthened by tokenization, represents a new and potentially powerful evolution of gold-backed money—one designed for a multipolar, digital world.
This is not a return to the gold standard. It is something more modern, more flexible, and more structural.
Gold’s Role Has Always Been About Trust
Gold earned its monetary role long before central banks existed. Its appeal was never ideological. Gold worked because it was scarce, durable, and politically neutral. It allowed settlement between parties that did not trust one another.
As economies expanded, gold’s form changed. Coins gave way to paper claims redeemable for metal. Later, convertibility faded, but gold remained central as a reserve asset—anchoring confidence rather than enforcing discipline.
Each transition reflected the constraints of the era. What remained constant was gold’s function as trust infrastructure. That function is being revisited today.
Why the Current System Is Being Questioned
The modern global monetary system is built around two pillars:
The U.S. dollar as the dominant settlement and reserve currency
SWIFT as the primary global financial messaging network
This system is efficient, liquid, and deeply entrenched. But it also creates structural asymmetries. Nations that do not control the system (90%+ of the world) remain dependent on it for trade settlement, reserves, and cross-border payments.
For the BRICS nations—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—those asymmetries have become increasingly visible:
Trade volumes have grown faster than monetary influence
Sanctions and payment restrictions have highlighted vulnerability
Correspondent banking adds cost, delay, and political exposure
The response has not been to abandon fiat currencies or dismantle existing systems. Instead, BRICS policymakers have explored parallel architectures—systems that coexist with the current order but reduce dependency on it. Gold naturally reenters the picture here.
The UNIT: Gold-Referenced Settlement Money
The proposed UNIT is not a retail currency and not a replacement for national money. It is best understood as a trade settlement and accounting unit, designed primarily for use within BRICS trade corridors.
Publicly discussed models describe the UNIT as being backed by a hybrid structure:
40% gold
60% fiat currency, divided evenly among the five founding members
This design is intentional. Gold provides neutrality and credibility. Fiat components preserve flexibility and continuity with existing monetary systems.
The UNIT does not seek to dethrone the dollar globally, at least not yet. Instead, it challenges the dollar’s default role in BRICS trade settlement, offering an alternative reference unit that reduces reliance on any single sovereign currency. But money alone does not create a system. Settlement requires infrastructure. This is where mBridge enters the story.
mBridge: The Settlement Rail
mBridge is not money. It is infrastructure—a blockchain-based, multi-CBDC settlement platform designed to enable direct value transfer between central banks and large institutions.
Unlike SWIFT, which transmits payment instructions, mBridge is designed to settle value itself. It reduces the need for correspondent banks, shortens settlement times, and increases transparency.
The distinction is critical:
SWIFT answers the question: Who should pay whom?
mBridge answers the question: Has payment occurred?
mBridge does not replace SWIFT outright. But it introduces a parallel settlement pathway, particularly attractive to countries seeking to reduce exposure to existing financial chokepoints.
On its own, mBridge is a powerful tool. Combined with a gold-referenced unit like the UNIT, it becomes something more and when tokenization is dropped into the mix, a challenger appears on the horizon.
Tokenization: The Force Multiplier
Gold-backed systems historically failed for predictable reasons: opacity, centralized control, and political override. Trust depended on promises rather than proof. Tokenization changes that equation.
Tokenization allows physical gold held in sovereign vaults to be:
Digitally represented
Cryptographically verified
Independently audited
Programmatically referenced in settlement
In a UNIT–mBridge framework, tokenization could serve as the verification layer that binds money and infrastructure together. Rather than relying on declarations that gold exists, tokenization allows systems to prove it.
How the System Could Work in Tandem
In combination, the components align naturally:
Gold provides neutral, non-sovereign credibility
The UNIT provides a shared settlement and accounting unit
mBridge provides the blockchain-based settlement rail
Tokenization provides verification, transparency, and enforcement
Under such a framework:
Gold remains physically stored within national vaults
Each nation retains sovereign custody over its reserves
Tokenized representations confirm the existence and allocation of gold
mBridge settles obligations using verified balances
The UNIT functions as the accounting and pricing reference
This structure does not eliminate fiat currencies. It operates above them, coordinating settlement without replacing domestic monetary systems.
Challenge or Revolution?
It is important to be precise. This system does not overthrow the dollar or dismantle SWIFT overnight. Instead, it introduces functional competition:
Competition to SWIFT in settlement infrastructure
Competition to the dollar in specific trade corridors
Competition based on architecture, not ideology
Tokenization is what makes this competition real. Without it, the UNIT is an accounting idea and mBridge is an experiment. With it, they become a coherent, auditable system. This is how monetary systems change—not through abrupt replacement, but through parallel adoption.
Why Gold Fits This Moment
Gold is uniquely suited to this role:
Central banks already hold it
Custody practices are established
It is not consumed or degraded
It functions naturally as collateral
Unlike other commodities, gold does not need to circulate to be useful. Its credibility increases when it remains immobile and verified. Tokenization allows gold to be digitally active without being physically mobile.
Historical Continuity, Not Regression
Seen in historical context, this evolution is logical:
Gold as physical money
Gold as paper backing
Gold as reserve asset
Gold as digitally verified settlement anchor
Each stage reflects technological capability and political reality. Tokenization does not restore the gold standard. It modernizes gold’s role as trust infrastructure.
The UNIT and mBridge are not anomalies. They are contemporary expressions of an ancient instinct: when trust is uneven, systems seek neutral anchors.
Conclusion: Tokenization as the Enabler
Gold-backed money has always depended on credibility. What has changed is how credibility can be demonstrated. By combining gold, the UNIT, mBridge, and tokenization, BRICS nations are exploring a system where backing is verifiable, settlement is direct, and trust is structural rather than discretionary.
This does not replace existing systems. It pressures them. It offers alternatives. And once alternatives exist, they tend to persist.
Tokenization is not the headline. It is the enabler—the quiet force that allows gold-backed settlement to function in a digital, multipolar world.
Rhodium is one of the rarest metals on Earth—far rarer than gold or silver—and yet it plays a critical role in modern life. Most people never see it, but without rhodium, today’s emissions standards would be nearly impossible to meet.
As real-world assets (RWAs) move onto blockchain rails, it is natural to ask: Can rhodium be tokenized?
After digging into its supply structure, price behavior, and industrial demand, the answer—for now—is not really.
Rhodium is:
Almost entirely a byproduct metal
Geographically concentrated in a handful of countries
Extremely volatile, with thin and opaque spot markets
Driven by regulation, not investor demand
Tokenization works best where liquidity, transparency, and broad participation already exist. Rhodium meets none of those conditions today.
That does not mean rhodium has no digital future. In a mature RWA ecosystem, tokenized rhodium may emerge quietly—used by industry players for settlement, inventory finance, or compliance rather than speculation.
Not every metal belongs on a blockchain. And rhodium reminds us that “not yet” is sometimes the most honest answer.
Gold tells the story of money. Silver tells the story of versatility. Palladium tells the story of technology, regulation, and fragility.
Long before catalytic converters made palladium famous, it was already a high-tech metal—used in electronics, chemical catalysis, and dentistry. What changed everything was environmental regulation. As emissions standards tightened, palladium became indispensable to gasoline-powered vehicles, eventually accounting for roughly 80% of global demand.
At the same time, supply remained extremely constrained. Palladium is mined primarily as a byproduct, with production concentrated in just two nations. That combination—industrial necessity and limited supply—has made palladium one of the most volatile precious metals of the past two decades.
This is precisely why palladium is a compelling candidate for tokenization.
Tokenized palladium can provide: • Transparent, on-chain ownership • Faster settlement in volatile markets • Fractional access to a scarce industrial asset • Improved supply-chain visibility
Unlike traditional futures or ETFs, tokenization is not synthetic exposure layered on top of complexity. It is direct, verifiable access to a real-world metal that modern technology depends on.
Palladium is not a monetary metal. It does not rely on mythology or tradition. Its value comes from physics, chemistry, and regulation—and in a high-tech age, that makes it a natural fit for blockchain-based infrastructure.
Tokenized palladium is not about hype. It is about alignment—between physical reality and digital systems.
Every metal has a unique story. The story of gold is money. The silver story is about versatility, monetary and industrial. Platinum will eloquently explain its necessity in industrial processes. Palladium too has its story. Follow along and listen to palladium as it recites how its story is centered on technology, regulation, mother nature, and fragility.
It turns out few people outside mining, automotive engineering, or commodities trading think much about palladium. Why would they? Palladium is literally, an inside-the-machines story! Yet during the last 20 years, palladium often, albeit quietly, traded at prices higher than gold. Why? Was it monetary demand? No. Could tradition explain? No, try again. It’s because modern technology—and modern regulation—left the world with no easy substitute.
As blockchain technology matures and real-world asset tokenization expands beyond obvious candidates, palladium deserves a closer look, much closer. Again, not as a monetary metal, nor a general industrial metal, but as a high-tech constraint metal—one whose supply, demand, and price behavior reveal exactly why tokenization exists in the first place. Let’s not get ahead of the story. We need to start with the basics–what is palladium.
What Is Palladium?
Palladium is a silvery-white precious metal belonging to the platinum-group metals (PGMs), alongside platinum, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium, and osmium. I call them the “UM” family! Palladium is chemically stable, highly catalytic, and resistant to corrosion—properties that make it ideal for industrial applications where efficiency matters and margins are thin. Do you see where this is going?
Unlike gold or silver, palladium has no historical monetary role. Discovered in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston while refining platinum ore from South America, it never circulated as coinage or reserve money. Palladium’s value has always been functional. That distinction matters. Palladium is not concerned with narratives or sentimentality. Palladium say: physics and chemistry make me who I am.
What Is Palladium Used For?
The vast majority of palladium demand (approximately 80%) comes from one place: emissions control. Palladium is a critical component in catalytic converters for gasoline-powered vehicles, where it helps transform toxic exhaust gases into less harmful emissions. (Prior to catalytic converters palladium was used in: electronics, dentistry, medicine, chemical catalytics, jewelry as reflected below). As governments tightened emissions standards across North America, Europe, and Asia, palladium demand surged. Given the environmental damage caused by gasoline-powered vehicles, I say, hurray for palladium!
While emissions control dominate, there are other uses, including:
Even so, palladium remains deeply tied to automotive production and environmental regulation. When gasoline vehicle demand rises, palladium demand follows. When supply tightens, due to geopolitical events or disruptions in the few productive mines, prices can move sharply. Electric vehicles (EVs) may pose a long-term threat to palladium demand. However, slower-than-expected EV adoption and stricter emission rules, along with rising hybrid vehicle sales, sustain significant demand for palladium. In other words, palladium isn’t about to disappear any time soon.
Where Is Palladium Mined?
If scarcity gives metals value, concentration gives them risk. Palladium is no exception. Palladium production is extraordinarily concentrated. Roughly 80% of global supply comes from just two countries: Russia and South Africa. Russia alone accounts for a significant share of primary palladium production, largely as a byproduct of nickel and platinum mining. Given palladium is mined as a byproduct, production decisions are driven by nickel and platinum economics rather than palladium demand itself. This rigidity explains much of palladium’s historical volatility—and why transparency matters so deeply in this market.
Palladium as a byproduct creates several layers of vulnerability, including:
Geopolitical and sanctions risk
Supply-chain opacity
Limited ability to increase production quickly
Dependence on the economics of other metals
Palladium’s Price History: A Lesson in Constraint
Palladium prices can experience dramatic changes! Ups, downs, a real roller coaster. In fact, in the late 2010s, palladium prices surged well above gold, driven by tightening emissions standards, strong automotive demand, and constrained supply growth. At its peak, palladium traded at more than twice the price of gold—an almost unthinkable outcome for a metal few people could easily identify.
Then came gigantic price reversals. Technology shifted. Electric vehicles gained momentum. Recycling increased. Demand softened. Prices fell sharply. Volatility is not a flaw in the palladium market. It’s the defining feature. Now that we know what palladium is, how it’s used, where it comes from, we turn to the BIG question: why is palladium a tokenization candidate?
Why Palladium Is a Serious Tokenization Candidate
Let me answer the question directly with the following observations: tokenization works best where markets are opaque, fragmented, and slow to adapt. Palladium fits that description perfectly.
Transparency Where It Matters Most
Physical palladium inventories are difficult to track and often reported with delays. Tokenization allows specific, assayed, vaulted palladium to be represented on-chain, with ownership and inventory visible in near real time.
In a market where supply disruptions have immediate consequences, visibility is not a luxury—it is infrastructure.
Liquidity Without Distortion
Palladium markets are relatively small, and large trades can move prices. Tokenization enables fractional ownership and broader participation without forcing physical delivery or disrupting industrial supply chains. Tokenization is liquidity without leverage.
Faster Settlement in a Volatile Market
In fast-moving markets, slow settlement amplifies risk. Blockchain-based settlement reduces transaction times from days to minutes, limiting counterparty exposure during sharp price swings. For palladium, which is a relatively small market, this is especially important.
Tokenized Palladium vs Traditional Palladium Exposure
Today, palladium exposure typically comes through futures contracts, exchange-traded products, or mining equities. These instruments provide price exposure, but they remain abstractions layered atop clearinghouses, custodians, and jurisdictional complexity.
Tokenized palladium offers something different and more importantly, better:
Direct ownership of physical metal
On-chain auditability
Reduced reliance on intermediaries
Global accessibility without brokerage friction
Where traditional instruments offer price exposure, tokenization offers asset exposure. A critical distinction during periods of market stress.
Industrial and Supply-Chain Use Cases
Tokenized palladium is not primarily an investment concept. The strongest case for tokenized palladium falls to automotive manufacturers, chemical processors, and industrial users. Here is how they could use it:
Hedge raw-material costs directly
Maintain verified strategic inventories
Improve supply-chain traceability
Reduce settlement and financing friction
As ESG reporting and regulatory scrutiny increase, on-chain tracking of critical materials becomes a competitive advantage rather than a novelty.
Risks, Constraints, and Realism
Only two sure bets in life: death and taxes. Tokenized palladium is neither of those, therefore it is not risk-free. Below are four risks:
Demand is sensitive to technological shifts
Electric vehicle adoption introduces long-term uncertainty
Market size limits liquidity
Regulatory clarity remains uneven
Tokenization does not eliminate these risks–but it does force transparency. Ownership is explicit. Inventory is verifiable. Prices respond faster to reality. Markets become less forgiving—but more honest. A reasonable trade-off.
Long-Term Outlook: Palladium’s Digital Role
Will palladium become a household name? Don’t count on it. Besides, by its very nature, palladium doesn’t seek the spotlight; it does not aspire to monetary status or cultural symbolism. Palladium is the sensible sister, dedicated to solving technical problems efficiently and quietly. That makes palladium a strong representative of the next phase of tokenization.
As real-world asset tokenization matures, attention will shift from symbolic assets to functional ones. From narratives to necessities. From ideology to infrastructure. A tokenized future is one in which palladium belongs.
The facts all point in one direction: palladium is shaped by high-tech, regulation, and Mother Nature. In such a world, an asset that can be tokenized benefits immensely from transparency, speed, and verifiability–in other words, tokenization on the blockchain.
To conclude, tokenized palladium is not about hype. It is about alignment—between physical reality and digital systems.
Until next time,
Yogi Nelson
This post is part of an ongoing weekly series on the tokenization of precious metals, published on BlockchainAIForum and LinkedIn, examining custody, regulation, issuer structure, and settlement infrastructure.
Sources
World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) – Palladium Market Reports U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) – Mineral Commodity Summaries: Palladium International Energy Agency (IEA) – Emissions Standards and Technology Transition
Blockchain & AI Forum 