Big Players Entering and Asset Restructuring: On-Chain Investment Logic Amid Gold and Silver Market Turmoil

HSBC Launches a Distributed Ledger Gold Platform, and J.P. Morgan Implements Cross-Border Collateral Settlement for Tokenized Gold Bars via Onyx Network. The underlying asset restructuring initiated by traditional financial giants has already begun. This trend is most directly confirmed in the capital markets: Ondo Finance (SLVon) has received significant backing from Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and Coinbase Ventures; meanwhile, PAXG has integrated deep compliance partnerships with PayPal and Mastercard, bringing trust from traditional payment systems directly into the digital asset space.

This article uses recent gold and silver market trends as examples to illustrate why institutions are increasingly favoring tokenized assets.

By February 2026, the global gold and silver markets are undergoing a stress test. After gold prices peaked at $5,600 at the end of January, the market experienced a brutal short squeeze influenced by hawkish Federal Reserve officials. As of yesterday (February 5), spot gold, after a rebound, has fallen back into high-level oscillation, currently around $4,980, failing to hold above the $5,000 mark; silver has also been volatile, currently at $86.50.

This price correction following a sharp decline and subsequent rebound has become the best practical scenario for RWA assets. It not only tests investors’ holding endurance but also vividly demonstrates how on-chain investments supported by industry giants can fundamentally enhance capital control, enabling professional investors to achieve disposal efficiency beyond traditional physical assets during extreme market conditions.

1. Liquidity Premium During Price Volatility

In traditional physical or paper gold trading, price retracements are often accompanied by severe liquidity lag. First, there are dual restrictions on trading time and physical location: repurchasing physical gold is usually limited by business hours and geographic constraints, and even gold ETFs cannot respond to macro news triggers—such as Kevin Warsh’s nomination as Fed Chair—during weekends or non-trading hours.

Second, bid-ask spreads widen asymmetrically during volatility. Traditional channels tend to see repurchase premiums expand when prices fall, causing investors to bear not only paper losses but also higher realization costs. Coupled with the T+n settlement system of traditional finance, this greatly limits rapid capital rotation across asset classes. In contrast, Web3 architectures for gold and silver assets offer 24/7 instant settlement capabilities, providing high-value risk mitigation during retracement phases.

2. Three Core Positions and Deep Advantages of On-Chain Assets

Based on research into current mainstream RWA projects, we can categorize on-chain precious metals into three complementary investment tracks, highlighting their advantages over traditional models.

Category A: Digital Forms of Physical Holdings (PAXG, XAUt, CGO)

The core logic here is to tokenize physical ownership via blockchain technology. Its advantages include extremely low operational barriers and asset flexibility. Compared to physical gold trading, which typically involves 3%-5% premiums and high shipping and insurance costs, on-chain assets significantly reduce friction.

Quantitative support: For example, Comtech Gold (CGO) supports investments starting from 1 gram (about $160), whereas institutional vaults usually require a minimum of 12.4 kilograms (delivery bars). Data from January 2026 shows that PAXG’s 24-hour trading volume surged to $1.2 billion during volatile periods, demonstrating institutional demand for “second-level replenishment” using on-chain assets amid extreme fluctuations.

Audit Premium: Proof of Reserve (PoR) on-chain verification turns quarterly audits into real-time logical checks. PAXG, combined with Chainlink oracles providing live reserve data, maintains a stable secondary market premium/discount within ±0.1%, far better than physical markets where panic-driven spreads can reach 2%.

Category B: Tokenized Securities (SLVon)

As a mapped representation of traditional compliant financial products on-chain, SLVon (by Ondo Finance) demonstrates cross-market arbitrage and risk hedging capabilities. Its strategic value lies in bringing the stability of traditional securities into 24-hour crypto trading.

Quantitative support: In early February 2026, during US stock market closure, silver prices unexpectedly plummeted. SLVon’s on-chain turnover rate reached 45% of its total supply, whereas traditional iShares Silver Trust (SLV) holders could only passively wait for the market to reopen.

Efficiency comparison: Traditional ETFs settle on T+1 or T+2 cycles, while SLVon built on Solana or Ethereum enables instant settlement. This allows investors to immediately deploy proceeds into DeFi protocols to capture over 15% short-term volatility, achieving capital turnover speeds over 50 times higher than traditional broker accounts.

Category C: Yield-Generating and High-Efficiency Collaborative Assets (KAG, XAUm)

This track completely ends the era of zero-yield precious metals, transforming them into productive assets capable of generating cash flow. During retracement phases, this positive yield acts as a buffer against price declines.

Quantitative support: Kinesis Silver (KAG) employs a revenue-sharing model, providing holders with an average annual yield of 1.8%–3.2% in 2025, covering holding costs and enabling asset appreciation.

Capital Reuse Rate: Data from Matrixdock (XAUm) is even more impressive. During this period of extreme gold price volatility, XAUm’s loan-to-value (LTV) ratio remained steady at around 85%. This means holders can lend out stablecoins for liquidity mining yields exceeding 10% without selling their gold positions. Such strategies allow internal IRR to remain positive during price corrections, showcasing the deep collaboration potential of RWA assets under extreme market conditions.

3. Comprehensive Analysis of the Three Strategic Paths

4. Conclusion: Retracement Periods as Opportunities for Asset Architecture Upgrades

The market correction in early 2026 once again proves that disposal rights and ownership are equally important. The true value of on-chain assets lies in their ability to provide instant risk hedging during price drops, asset productivity during sideways markets, and seamless profit-taking channels during rallies.

For operators focused on building professional market analysis pages, emphasizing liquidity efficiency rather than mere price prediction will be key to establishing a professional moat. Current price retracements offer a window to observe how different on-chain metal projects perform liquidity-wise under extreme stress testing, providing valuable insights for developing long-term, robust asset allocation strategies.