What you actually own when a real-world asset goes on-chain
Topic
Tokenized gold and commodity wrappers: custody, per-ounce backing, transfer fees and what physical redemption really costs.
South Africans have three easy routes to gold: a Krugerrand from any dealer, a JSE-listed gold ETF, or PAXG on an exchange. They cost different amounts, fail in different ways, and only one of them crosses a border.
Three ways to hold gold, three different things you are actually buying. A comparison across carrying cost, counterparty risk, liquidity and crisis behaviour — and the one question that settles which is right for you.
Both hold allocated LBMA gold and both have the strongest legal wrapper in RWA. The differences are the regulator, the attestation cadence, where the metal sits, and what happens if you ever want it. A line-by-line comparison.
Both PAXG and XAUT require 430 troy ounces for physical delivery — one full LBMA bar. Here is the complete cost stack beyond that threshold, why your redemption right is effectively theoretical, and why it still matters enormously that it exists.