Tether Gold earns Shariah certification, opening doors to Islamic finance

For the second time in a week, Tether Gold has won official recognition in a system that usually keeps crypto assets out. Its gold token XAU₮ has been certified Shariah-compliant by Amanah Advisors, a global Islamic finance advisory firm — opening a path to banks and investors across the Gulf, South Asia, and Africa.

We covered the first step a week ago, when XAU₮ won spot-commodity status at Abu Dhabi's financial center — Tether Gold just won official commodity status in Abu Dhabi; this certification follows the same playbook — turning tokenized gold into something traditional institutions, not just crypto exchanges, will accept.

“Gold has always represented stability and trust across cultures and generations. With XAU₮ now recognized as Shariah compliant, we are expanding access to digital gold in a way that respects Islamic finance principles while leveraging the transparency and efficiency of blockchain technology.”

— Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether

Quote source: [Tether.io](https://tether.io/news/xaut-tethers-gold-backed-digital-asset-receives-shariah-certification-unlocking-new-pathways-for-islamic-banks-institutions-and-individuals-worldwide/), July 27, 2026.

The review covered the gold's ownership structure, reserve transparency, and compliance with Islamic rules on gold transactions — specifically the absence of riba (interest), leverage, and speculative derivatives. Each XAU₮ token is backed by one troy ounce of physical gold in London Good Delivery bars, held in Swiss vaults.

As of March 31, the token was backed by more than 707,000 troy ounces of gold worth over $3.3 billion, Cointelegraph reports, and the Islamic finance market XAU₮ can now tap is valued at more than $3 trillion.

Here's what that actually changes: for Tether, this isn't a goodwill gesture, it's a bigger addressable market. Islamic banks and funds simply can't hold products carrying interest or speculative leverage — until now, tokenized gold didn't fit their mandate at all. Now it does, which opens access to capital the crypto industry usually never sees.

Whether the certification turns into real capital inflows from the region or stays a press-release line remains to be seen. But Tether winning recognition from a conservative financial system for the second time in a week looks less like coincidence and more like a strategy.

*None of this should be read as personalized investment advice.*