KAU vs XAUT
Kinesis Gold and Tether Gold are both gold tokens, so this page compares them. KAU is issued by Kinesis KAU is issued by Kinesis Cayman. The ERC-20 token is a 1:1 claim on that KAU, issued by KMS Labs S.A., a company incorporated in Panama. on Ethereum. XAUT is issued by TG Commodities, S.A. de C.V. on Ethereum, BNB Chain. The cited pages differ on issuer, custodian, fees, redemption, minimum size, chains. A dash is a field the issuer page does not state. The reverse URL redirects to this alphabetical pair.
All RWA tokens · Kinesis Gold · Tether Gold
| Field | Kinesis Gold | Tether Gold |
|---|---|---|
| Ticker | KAU | XAUT |
| Asset class | Gold | Gold |
| Issuer | Kinesis KAU is issued by Kinesis Cayman. The ERC-20 token is a 1:1 claim on that KAU, issued by KMS Labs S.A., a company incorporated in Panama. | TG Commodities, S.A. de C.V. |
| Issuer jurisdiction | Cayman Islands (Kinesis KAU); Panama (KMS Labs S.A., the ERC-20 issuer) | El Salvador |
| Regulator | — | Comisión Nacional de Activos Digitales (CNAD), El Salvador. Registered as a stablecoin issuer and a digital asset service provider. The Relevant Information Document says registration does not certify the tokens. |
| Token type | 1 KAU equals 1 gram of allocated physical gold of minimum 999.9 purity. The ERC-20 token is backed 1:1 by Kinesis KAU held in reserve by KMS Labs. | Digital asset. Each token is an undivided specific interest in one fine troy ounce of gold on a specific LBMA London Good Delivery bar. |
| Custodian | Fully allocated bullion is stored in insured third-party vaults by ABX vault partners. Kinesis names Loomis and Brink's among the logistics and vaulting partners. The gold page lists vault hubs including London, New York, Zurich, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, and Sydney. | A Swiss related-party custodian. The Relevant Information Document does not publish the legal name. Gold is vaulted in Switzerland. |
| Auditor | Bureau Veritas, an independent physical audit every six months. | An independent accounting firm prepares quarterly reports on the Gold Reserves. The Relevant Information Document does not name the firm. |
| Chains | Ethereum | Ethereum, BNB Chain |
| Fees | Allocated storage fee 0%. Buy or sell on the Kinesis dashboard or exchange 0.22%. Send to another Kinesis account or an external wallet 0.45%. Physical redemption fee 0.45% plus $100 plus delivery. Segregated coin and bar redemption is 0.45% plus $100 plus any retrieval fee plus delivery. | No custody fee, as stated at launch. Primary-market purchase and redemption fee of 25 basis points in the Relevant Information Document. Account verification fee of 150 USDT, credited after successful verification. Physical delivery in Switzerland is charged separately. |
| Redemption | Physical delivery is offered. Redeeming bullion removes the corresponding KAU from circulation. Physical withdrawal minimum is 100 grams of gold. ERC-20 redemption for Kinesis KAU requires KMS Labs compliance onboarding, after which physical redemption may be made via Kinesis Cayman. | KYC-verified customers only, and only for a full gold bar. Holders are generally asked to deposit at least 430 XAUT. Delivery is to an address in Switzerland, or the issuer can sell the bar on the Swiss market and pay the proceeds. |
| Minimum unit | 1 KAU = 1 gram. Divisible to 0.00001 grams. The fees page also lists a 0.00001 KAU figure. | 1 fine troy ounce per token, fractionalized to 0.000001 fine troy ounce. Primary-market minimum purchase is 50 XAUT. |
| Launched | — | 2020-01-23 |
| Website | https://kinesis.money/gold/ | https://gold.tether.to/ |
| CoinGecko id | — | tether-gold |
| Market cap | — | — |
| Supply | — | — |
How to buy KAU
The cited catalog does not include an official how-to-buy path for Kinesis Gold.
Who can and cannot hold KAU
Kinesis Gold is issued from Cayman Islands (Kinesis KAU); Panama (KMS Labs S.A., the ERC-20 issuer).
The issuer does not publish a regulator for Kinesis Gold.
The cited catalog does not include a restricted-holder statement for Kinesis Gold.
What redemption actually means in practice for KAU
Redemption, as published: Physical delivery is offered. Redeeming bullion removes the corresponding KAU from circulation. Physical withdrawal minimum is 100 grams of gold. ERC-20 redemption for Kinesis KAU requires KMS Labs compliance onboarding, after which physical redemption may be made via Kinesis Cayman.
Minimum size, as published: 1 KAU = 1 gram. Divisible to 0.00001 grams. The fees page also lists a 0.00001 KAU figure.
Fees, as published: Allocated storage fee 0%. Buy or sell on the Kinesis dashboard or exchange 0.22%. Send to another Kinesis account or an external wallet 0.45%. Physical redemption fee 0.45% plus $100 plus delivery. Segregated coin and bar redemption is 0.45% plus $100 plus any retrieval fee plus delivery.
Eligibility and redemption read from the issuer on 31 Oct 2026
How to buy XAUT
KYC-verified customers buy on the primary market through the Tether Gold website. The Relevant Information Document names that website as app.tether.to. The minimum purchase there is 50 XAUT, which is 50 fine troy ounces. The price is the cost of gold in the Swiss gold market, including brokerage and dealer mark-up, plus a fee the document states as 25 basis points as of its date. The same document says tokens may also be bought on secondary-market exchanges and over-the-counter platforms, and that Tether Gold does not keep a list of those venues.
Only a customer who has passed Tether Gold's know-your-customer check can buy or redeem on the primary market. Tether Gold may approve or reject that request. The Relevant Information Document does not print the document checklist.
Who can and cannot hold XAUT
Tether Gold is issued from El Salvador.
Regulator, as published: Comisión Nacional de Activos Digitales (CNAD), El Salvador. Registered as a stablecoin issuer and a digital asset service provider. The Relevant Information Document says registration does not certify the tokens.
The Tether Gold terms say every Prohibited Person is strictly prohibited from directly or indirectly holding the gold tokens. A Prohibited Person is a Canadian Person, a Singaporean Person, the Government of Venezuela, any resident of or government or government official of or person in a Prohibited Jurisdiction, and any Sanctioned Person. The terms name these Prohibited Jurisdictions: Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), Iran, Syria, Crimea, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. A Prohibited Counterparty, barred from the site services other than look-up on the conditions in the terms, is a U.S. Person except an Eligible Contract Participant that Tether Gold agrees in its discretion, or any Prohibited Person. Canadian Person and Singaporean Person cover residents and entities organized under those laws, and certain estates and controlled entities, as those terms define them. Eligible Contract Participant has the meaning in Section 1a(18) of the U.S. Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Rule 1.3. The terms do not restate that test.
What redemption actually means in practice for XAUT
Redemption is in full gold bars. The Relevant Information Document says holders are generally asked to deposit at least 430 XAUT. If the bar holds fewer than 430 fine troy ounces, the customer redeems only the tokens equal to the fine ounces in that bar, to three decimal places, and the excess tokens are returned.
On redemption the bar is delivered to a place in Switzerland that the KYC-verified customer chooses, acting reasonably. The customer may instead ask Tether Gold to contact a licensed gold broker to try to sell the bar and pay the proceeds, minus fees. The gold itself is vaulted in Switzerland. The Relevant Information Document says the custodian is a Swiss related party and does not publish the custodian's legal name.
The legal page lists a 0.25% fee to purchase and a 0.25% fee to redeem, plus applicable redemption fees. On-chain transfers and secondary transactions have no Tether Gold fee. The holder pays network gas. A sale of the bar arranged for the holder may include brokerage or a dealer mark-up. Physical delivery in Switzerland requires the delivery cost. The minimum purchase on that page is 50 gold tokens.
The issuer does not publish a redemption settlement time for Tether Gold.
The verification page says there are no custody fees. It describes a one-time 25 basis point fee when a customer purchases or redeems XAUT from TG Commodities, S.A. de C.V., and says certain additional redemption fees may apply.
Direct purchase minimum: The primary-market minimum purchase is 50 XAUT, equal to 50 fine troy ounces.
Reserve report: The Relevant Information Document says reports on the Gold Reserves are published quarterly on https://tether.to/en/transparency, and that an independent accounting firm prepares independent auditors' reports on those reserve reports as of each quarter-end. The document does not name the firm and does not name an assurance standard.
Kinesis Gold sources
Tether Gold sources
Questions
Yes. Both are gold. RWA Leads does not publish a comparison across asset classes.
Kinesis Gold: Kinesis KAU is issued by Kinesis Cayman. The ERC-20 token is a 1:1 claim on that KAU, issued by KMS Labs S.A., a company incorporated in Panama.. Tether Gold: TG Commodities, S.A. de C.V..
KAU fees: Allocated storage fee 0%. Buy or sell on the Kinesis dashboard or exchange 0.22%. Send to another Kinesis account or an external wallet 0.45%. Physical redemption fee 0.45% plus $100 plus delivery. Segregated coin and bar redemption is 0.45% plus $100 plus any retrieval fee plus delivery.. XAUT fees: No custody fee, as stated at launch. Primary-market purchase and redemption fee of 25 basis points in the Relevant Information Document. Account verification fee of 150 USDT, credited after successful verification. Physical delivery in Switzerland is charged separately.. KAU redemption: Physical delivery is offered. Redeeming bullion removes the corresponding KAU from circulation. Physical withdrawal minimum is 100 grams of gold. ERC-20 redemption for Kinesis KAU requires KMS Labs compliance onboarding, after which physical redemption may be made via Kinesis Cayman.. XAUT redemption: KYC-verified customers only, and only for a full gold bar. Holders are generally asked to deposit at least 430 XAUT. Delivery is to an address in Switzerland, or the issuer can sell the bar on the Swiss market and pay the proceeds..
The slugs in alphabetical order: /compare/kau-vs-xaut. The other order is a permanent redirect.
Kinesis Gold: The cited catalog does not include an official how-to-buy path for Kinesis Gold. Tether Gold: KYC-verified customers buy on the primary market through the Tether Gold website. The Relevant Information Document names that website as app.tether.to. The minimum purchase there is 50 XAUT, which is 50 fine troy ounces. The price is the cost of gold in the Swiss gold market, including brokerage and dealer mark-up, plus a fee the document states as 25 basis points as of its date. The same document says tokens may also be bought on secondary-market exchanges and over-the-counter platforms, and that Tether Gold does not keep a list of those venues. Only a customer who has passed Tether Gold's know-your-customer check can buy or redeem on the primary market. Tether Gold may approve or reject that request. The Relevant Information Document does not print the document checklist.
Kinesis Gold is issued from Cayman Islands (Kinesis KAU); Panama (KMS Labs S.A., the ERC-20 issuer). The issuer does not publish a regulator for Kinesis Gold. The cited catalog does not include a restricted-holder statement for Kinesis Gold. Tether Gold is issued from El Salvador. Regulator, as published: Comisión Nacional de Activos Digitales (CNAD), El Salvador. Registered as a stablecoin issuer and a digital asset service provider. The Relevant Information Document says registration does not certify the tokens. The Tether Gold terms say every Prohibited Person is strictly prohibited from directly or indirectly holding the gold tokens. A Prohibited Person is a Canadian Person, a Singaporean Person, the Government of Venezuela, any resident of or government or government official of or person in a Prohibited Jurisdiction, and any Sanctioned Person. The terms name these Prohibited Jurisdictions: Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), Iran, Syria, Crimea, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. A Prohibited Counterparty, barred from the site services other than look-up on the conditions in the terms, is a U.S. Person except an Eligible Contract Participant that Tether Gold agrees in its discretion, or any Prohibited Person. Canadian Person and Singaporean Person cover residents and entities organized under those laws, and certain estates and controlled entities, as those terms define them. Eligible Contract Participant has the meaning in Section 1a(18) of the U.S. Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Rule 1.3. The terms do not restate that test.
Kinesis Gold: Redemption, as published: Physical delivery is offered. Redeeming bullion removes the corresponding KAU from circulation. Physical withdrawal minimum is 100 grams of gold. ERC-20 redemption for Kinesis KAU requires KMS Labs compliance onboarding, after which physical redemption may be made via Kinesis Cayman. Minimum size, as published: 1 KAU = 1 gram. Divisible to 0.00001 grams. The fees page also lists a 0.00001 KAU figure. Fees, as published: Allocated storage fee 0%. Buy or sell on the Kinesis dashboard or exchange 0.22%. Send to another Kinesis account or an external wallet 0.45%. Physical redemption fee 0.45% plus $100 plus delivery. Segregated coin and bar redemption is 0.45% plus $100 plus any retrieval fee plus delivery. Tether Gold: Redemption is in full gold bars. The Relevant Information Document says holders are generally asked to deposit at least 430 XAUT. If the bar holds fewer than 430 fine troy ounces, the customer redeems only the tokens equal to the fine ounces in that bar, to three decimal places, and the excess tokens are returned. On redemption the bar is delivered to a place in Switzerland that the KYC-verified customer chooses, acting reasonably. The customer may instead ask Tether Gold to contact a licensed gold broker to try to sell the bar and pay the proceeds, minus fees. The gold itself is vaulted in Switzerland. The Relevant Information Document says the custodian is a Swiss related party and does not publish the custodian's legal name. The legal page lists a 0.25% fee to purchase and a 0.25% fee to redeem, plus applicable redemption fees. On-chain transfers and secondary transactions have no Tether Gold fee. The holder pays network gas. A sale of the bar arranged for the holder may include brokerage or a dealer mark-up. Physical delivery in Switzerland requires the delivery cost. The minimum purchase on that page is 50 gold tokens. The issuer does not publish a redemption settlement time for Tether Gold. The verification page says there are no custody fees. It describes a one-time 25 basis point fee when a customer purchases or redeems XAUT from TG Commodities, S.A. de C.V., and says certain additional redemption fees may apply. Direct purchase minimum: The primary-market minimum purchase is 50 XAUT, equal to 50 fine troy ounces. Reserve report: The Relevant Information Document says reports on the Gold Reserves are published quarterly on https://tether.to/en/transparency, and that an independent accounting firm prepares independent auditors' reports on those reserve reports as of each quarter-end. The document does not name the firm and does not name an assurance standard.