Digital Gold Could Unlock US$700 Billion in Additional Demand

A new study from the World Gold Council (WGC) and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) finds that the digital gold market could attract up to US$700 billion in additional demand as access improves and investor confidence strengthens.

The report, titled “Digital Gold: Unlocking a US$700bn Opportunity,” values the current market at between US$45 billion and US$55 billion.

The study surveyed more than 12,000 consumers across 12 markets and interviewed industry experts to analyze the gold and digital assets value chain. According to a news release issued Monday (October 19), nearly nine in 10 investors surveyed said they would consider buying digital gold within the right conditions.

Under the report’s base-case scenario, the market could grow by approximately 27 percent annually over the next five years, reaching US$160 billion to US$170 billion by 2031. The market could reach up to US$280 billion if barriers to adoption were removed.

According to the report, tokenized gold has grown fivefold in value since late 2024 to approximately US$6 billion. Cumulative spot trading volumes in tokenized gold exceeded US$90 billion in the first quarter of 2026, surpassing the total recorded throughout 2025.

WGC CEO David Tait said growing investor interest in digital gold highlights the need for supporting infrastructure to enable broader adoption.

“As shared infrastructure in development, it aims to help issuers bring competitive, compliant digital gold products to market more efficiently, supported by the sourcing, custody and compliance capabilities they would otherwise need to build themselves,” Tait was quoted as saying.

“But infrastructure alone is not enough. Building a liquid, trusted market will require the wider industry to work to the same standards, so investors can have confidence in what they are buying.”

The report states that digital gold could generate US$95 billion in new demand by 2031 by attracting first-time gold buyers, with younger investors driving adoption through accessible digital platforms. It also notes that awareness of digital gold is higher among those aged 25 to 34 (50 percent) than among those aged 55 and older (23 percent).

Approximately 65 percent of potential demand comes from people who do not currently own gold. Meanwhile, 52 percent of digital investors entered the market without prior gold ownership, and 92 percent later purchased other gold products.

“We undertook this project with the belief that gold has the potential to become the world’s most credible digital asset - not despite its physical nature, but because of it,” said Urs Rahne, managing director and partner at BCG.

“Our research has reinforced our confidence in the scale of this opportunity and provided a clearer understanding of what it will take to realize its full potential.”

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Securities Disclosure: I, Aastha Sethi, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.