Tether is pulling the plug on its Alloy by Tether platform and the aUSDT token that came with it. The company announced on June 17 that it would begin a phased wind-down of the gold-backed synthetic dollar, giving users three months to exit their positions before support officially ends on September 17, 2026.
The token, which launched in June 2024 as an overcollateralized synthetic dollar backed by Tether Gold reserves stored in Swiss vaults, never managed to carve out a meaningful niche.
What happened and why it matters
aUSDT was designed to be a clever hybrid. It let users hold a dollar-denominated asset while their collateral sat in tokenized gold, specifically Tether Gold (XAU₮). Think of it like taking out a loan against your gold jewelry, except the jewelry lived in a Swiss vault and the loan was a stablecoin.
Issuance volumes for aUSDT remained far below those of Tether’s flagship product, USD₮, which continues to dominate the stablecoin market. Tether framed the decision as a strategic reallocation, saying it wants to focus on products with stronger user demand, deeper liquidity, and broader long-term market opportunity.
