Tether Takes $150M Stake in Gold.com to Expand Tokenized Gold

The partnership also includes plans to explore stablecoin-based payments for physical gold using USDT and USAt, as gold prices are elevated after a strong rally over the past year. Separately, Pump.fun acquired on-chain trading terminal Vyper, folding its technology and team into Pump.fun’s Terminal platform after previously acquiring Padre in late 2025. The goal of the move is to improve high-speed execution and expand Ethereum-compatible trading support, while Pump.fun continues to adjust its incentive model and scale activity.

Tether Expands Gold Strategy

The investment arm of Tether took a step deeper into the precious metals market after acquiring a $150 million stake in Gold.com. The deal gives Tether an approximately 12% ownership stake in Gold.com, which is a publicly listed online marketplace that sells physical gold and other precious metals like silver and platinum across several markets, including the United States.

As part of the partnership, Gold.com will integrate Tether Gold (XAUt), Tether’s gold-backed cryptocurrency that represents ownership of physical gold stored in secure vaults. The move now helps Tether position tokenized commodities as a bridge between traditional stores of value and modern digital finance. According to Tether, the integration is designed to make gold exposure easier to access, transfer, and use.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino framed the investment as a long-term strategic hedge rather than a short-term trade. He said gold historically played a critical role in preserving value during periods of monetary instability and geopolitical uncertainty, and added that Tether views gold as a core allocation to protect both the company and its user base as global financial conditions become more volatile. Ardoino also explained that the company’s vision is to make gold function more like digital money, without sacrificing ownership rights or physical guarantees.

Beyond tokenized gold, the two companies are also exploring ways to enable customers to purchase physical gold directly using Tether’s stablecoins. This includes payments made with its flagship dollar-pegged token, USDT, as well as USAt, a newer stablecoin that is designed specifically for the US market. USAt was launched in late January in partnership with Anchorage Digital, which recently received a separate $100 million equity investment from Tether as part of its expansion strategy.

Gold’s price over the past year (Source: CoinCodex)

The timing of the Gold.com investment coincides with a strong rally in precious metals. Gold surged more than 70% over the past year, peaking close to $5,600 in late January before pulling back to around $4,800. Tether’s growing focus on gold-backed products comes alongside its dominance in stablecoins, with the company reporting $10 billion in profit for 2025.

Pump.fun Acquires Vyper

Meanwhile, Solana-based meme coin launchpad Pump.fun also recently acquired trading execution terminal Vyper. The acquisition was confirmed on Thursday in a post on X, where Vyper said its team and technology will be folded into Pump.fun’s broader product ecosystem.

As part of the transition, Vyper’s infrastructure will be migrated into Terminal, Pump.fun’s trading platform focused on meme coins and high-speed execution. Vyper also confirmed that its standalone product will be sunset once the migration process is complete.

The deal builds on Pump.fun’s earlier expansion into trading tools. In October of 2025, the company acquired Padre, which it later rebranded as Terminal, making it as a multichain trading venue optimized for fast-moving, speculative tokens. The addition of Vyper is expected to greatly enhance Terminal’s execution capabilities, particularly across Ethereum-compatible networks. The Terminal team said improving EVM support, including on Base, is a core priority and that Vyper’s infrastructure and talent will play a central role in that effort.

Pump.fun co-founder Alon Cohen described the acquisition as part of a growth strategy despite difficult market conditions. He said the company is expanding aggressively and that Vyper’s team brings deep experience in on-chain trading, which will help Pump.fun build faster and more efficient cross-chain trading infrastructure. Cohen added that these capabilities are critical while the firm continues investing in its core launchpad, its mobile application, and Terminal. The financial terms of the acquisition were not shared. 

Beyond infrastructure expansion, Pump.fun is also working on its platform economics. Earlier this month, it revamped its creator fee model to allow broader revenue sharing, including splitting fees across multiple wallets and enabling coin ownership transfers. The platform has also seen a sharp resurgence in activity, with close to 30,000 tokens launched on Feb. 2, which is a big increase from the daily averages seen in late 2025.