a16z Crypto: Tokenized commodity markets are almost entirely dominated by gold.

a16z crypto notes that the tokenized commodities market is currently composed almost entirely of gold. It explains that gold is well-suited for tokenization due to its global liquidity, standardized characteristics, and long-standing tracking via paper-based instruments. a16z crypto adds that crypto investors are already familiar with this model—Bitcoin was dubbed “digital gold” even before tokenized gold emerged. For instance, XAUt and PAXG migrate traditional gold ownership onto the blockchain, converting rights to physical gold held in vaults into on-chain tokens stored in digital wallets. In contrast, tokenization efforts for oil, agricultural products, energy, and compute power remain at a much earlier stage, with comparatively small market shares.