Bitcoin (BTC) and Tether Gold (XAUT): a comparison
Bitcoin and Tether Gold set side by side: how the quotes moved, how the protocols are built and what tasks each one was made for.
Specifications of BTC and XAUT
| Bitcoin (BTC) | Tether Gold (XAUT) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $74,677.00 | $4,100.18 |
| Ticker | BTC | XAUT |
| Type | coin of its own network | token |
| Launched | 2009 | 2020 |
| Built by | Satoshi Nakamoto | Tether |
| Consensus | Proof of Work (SHA-256) | — |
| Block | ~10 min | — |
| Supply cap | 21 M BTC | — |
| Privacy | transfers are public | — |
| In circulation | 20.11 M BTC | 808.99 K XAUT |
| Market cap | $1.5 T | $3.32 B |
| Rank by cap | #1 | #30 |
Source: CoinGecko, Nov 10, 2026 13:27. How these numbers are counted
Price movement: BTC and XAUT
The start of the period is taken as 100 for both prices: the chart shows the difference in movement, not the quotes themselves.
| Period | BTC | XAUT |
|---|---|---|
| 7 days | −3.94% | +5.75% |
| 30 days | −8.91% | −1.64% |
| 90 days | +17.66% | −5.96% |
The link between their daily moves over the quarter is 0.41 (they travel alike).
The tasks BTC and XAUT were made for
- Storing value over the long runBitcoin
- A peg to goldTether Gold
How Bitcoin and Tether Gold are built
How Bitcoin works
Underneath it is Proof of Work on SHA-256. Miners compete for the right to close the next block, which happens roughly every 10 minutes, and the reward is made up of new coins plus transaction fees. Every 210,000 blocks, about once every four years, the reward is cut in half, so issuance gradually fades out. Balances are not held in accounts but as unspent outputs (UTXO).
What Bitcoin is for
Most people buy bitcoin for the long run and hold it, treating it as a way to preserve capital. At the same time it stays the reference point for the whole market: trading pairs, indices and derivatives are quoted against it. Less often, it is used for what it was built for — cross-border transfers — while small payments are moved to the Lightning Network.
How Tether Gold works
Technically XAUT is an ERC20 token on the Ethereum network. A specific quantity of metal is assigned to each token, so quotes follow the gold market rather than the crypto one.
What Tether Gold is for
XAUT is a way to hold gold directly in a crypto wallet: you can buy more or sell at any moment and move it between your own wallets. For savings it is diversification: less dependence on both fiat currencies and volatile coins.