Tokenized gold carries several benefits over other forms of paper gold, including gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs), according to Melissa Song and Dustin Becker, representatives of Gold DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization that facilitates investor access to tokenized gold.

In an interview with Cointelegraph, the DAO representatives outlined three major benefits unique to tokenized gold, including 1:1 redeemability for a specific quantity of physical, serialized gold, usage as collateral in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, and transactional efficiency through on-demand liquidity.

“When you buy an ETF, you are betting on the gold price going up, but you do not own any specific gold bar,” Song told Cointelegraph.

The pair added that the price of gold surged in 2025 due to the current macroeconomic uncertainty, the high level of US government debt, and geopolitical tensions that are reshaping the global monetary order.

Gold’s price hits all-time highs against the US dollar. Source: TradingView

Related: Geopolitical tensions fuel central bank shift toward gold, crypto — BlackRock exec

Macroeconomic uncertainty spikes gold prices, leaves USD in doubt

Gold hit an all-time high of $3,500 per ounce in April 2025 amid the trade tariffs announced by United States President Donald Trump that caused turmoil in risk-on asset markets like stocks and crypto.

Traders shifted to gold, cash, and other safe-haven assets to weather the extreme volatility caused by the protectionist trade policies and the counter-response from other countries.

This rush to gold also caused gold-backed cryptocurrencies such as Paxos Gold (PAXG) and Tether Gold (XAUT) to spike in price during April 2024.

The Volatility S&P Index (VIX) tracks the volatility of the US stock market and surged following Trump’s tariff announcement. Source: TradingView

Bitcoin advocate Max Keiser argued that gold-backed tokens will outcompete fiat stablecoins due to the lack of geopolitical risk and inflationary resistance inherent in gold.

“A stablecoin backed by Gold would out-compete a USD-backed stablecoin in world markets: Russia, China, and Iran should take note,” Keiser wrote in a March 22 X post.

“The United States dollar has no volatility, but you are guaranteed to lose purchasing power,” the BTC advocate continued.

Gold’s current rally could spill over into Bitcoin if investors shift from viewing Bitcoin as a risk asset to more of a store of value in turbulent economic times that is counter-cyclical to the stock market and other speculative investments.

Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Opinion by: Fakhul Miah, managing director of GoMining Institutional

The Bitcoin (BTC) mining industry has never been more attractive to institutional investors. Fintech giants are investing in Bitcoin mining rather than just accumulating the asset, all thanks to the favorable regulatory environment in the US and the profitability margin of BTC. 

Then, numerous companies are diversifying by allocating computing power to AI, further strengthening their economics and, thus, investment attractiveness. For now, it looks like the future of the foundational layer for the Bitcoin network could mark the new gusher age.

Is Bitcoin mining profitable?

Bitcoin mining is still profitable. CoinShares, a digital asset investment firm, shared that the average cost to mine 1 BTC for US-listed miners reached $55,950 in Q3 2024. Two other popular models — one from MacroMicro and another dubbed the Glassnode Difficulty Regression Model — give different estimates. 

On the very same day of Feb. 20, MacroMicro.me data shows that the average cost to produce 1 BTC hovers above $92,000; Glassnode’s Difficulty Regression Model estimates the cost to mine a single BTC at approximately $34,400, all while the cryptocurrency’s price hit $98,300 on that day.

On a global scale, mining costs differ based on the region. For example, the electricity cost to produce 1 BTC in Ireland is roughly $321,000, but it costs just over $1,300 to mine 1 BTC in Iran. Electricity is only part of the equation — hardware, labor and maintenance costs also play a crucial role.

Recent data from CoinShares and MacroMicro.me paints a challenging yet nuanced picture for Bitcoin miners in the United States. While some institutional miners remain profitable, the broader landscape reveals increasing operational pressures that could reshape the mining industry.

What happens if the challenges aren’t addressed? Mining institutions with high profitability rates could start to expand their operations and possibly acquire struggling miners at bargain prices, potentially putting retail and smaller miners at risk.

Sustainable economics for investment attractiveness

In addition to receiving the block rewards, miners also benefit from the Bitcoin network’s transaction fees, which depend on network usage. Data shows that the daily Bitcoin transaction fees have been hovering between $360,000 and $1.3 million over the past month — reaching an average of $595,000 daily. 

This additional revenue stream bolsters Bitcoin mining’s economic appeal and strengthens the resilience of the mining business model by diversifying income sources.

Recent: Bitcoin miner Bitfarms secures up to $300M loan from Macquarie

It’s not only mining that mining hardware is used for. High computational power, captive power supplies and ready-made infrastructure make miners uniquely equipped to support AI and high-performance computing. In simple terms, mining firms can now rent out their hardware to process AI tasks instead of only focusing on mining Bitcoin.

The combination of transaction fee revenue growth and AI computing diversification creates a more resilient and profitable industry model (the existing one has never been quite appealing to institutional investments in the US). 

Institutional investments on the rise

The appealing revenues in the Bitcoin mining industries brought huge attention from institutional investors. This process is easy to spot: Bitcoin mining pools in the US accounted for over 40% of the global Bitcoin network’s hashrate in 2024. 

According to research by EY-Parthenon and Coinbase, 83% of the 352 global institutions plan to increase their crypto allocations this year, while 51% of the asset managers are considering investments in digital asset companies, including mining companies. That’s why I’m not surprised to witness huge investments in Riot Platforms, CoreWeave and other mining industry players. 

The favorable market sentiment has paved the way for more initial public offerings (IPOs) and specialized funds targeting mining companies. In addition to securing the $650-million investment, CoreWeave aims to go public with a $4-billion IPO to help the Nvidia-backed company reach a $35-billion valuation.

Bgin Blockchain, a Singapore-based crypto miner manufacturer, recently filed to go public in the US. Renaissance Capital, an investment advisory firm, expects Bgin Blockchain to raise $50 million for its IPO.

This surge in institutional momentum is set to benefit the Bitcoin mining industry by driving up demand and tightening available supply on the market. As more large players accumulate and hold Bitcoin, market scarcity could increase, supporting higher prices and, in turn, boosting miner profitability.

The future optimism is more than tangible

The strong support from institutional investors comes as the optimism around crypto-friendly policies has significantly increased after Donald Trump won the US presidential elections in November 2024.

Establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve in early March, seen as a massive policy shift, triggered positivity in the crypto and mining sectors. This sector gained importance. Last year, Bitcoin mining operations significantly contributed to the US economy, generating roughly $4.1 billion in gross domestic product and creating over 31,000 jobs nationwide. The industry is also revitalizing rural areas by generating tax revenue and repurposing remote locations for mining operations. It sounds like the gusher days of the oil industry a century ago, doesn’t it?

The latest investments, leadership appointments and IPOs show that Bitcoin mining firms have a significant tailwind. Meanwhile, they are no longer just about BTC — they are becoming data infrastructure providers for the AI sector, turning into hybrid data processing giants.

Taking advantage of this shift, the US could potentially become the leader in the digital asset and Bitcoin mining space due to the pro-crypto stance of the Trump administration and fulfill its stated goal of being the “crypto capital of the world.”

As institutions double down on Bitcoin mining and AI convergence, the question isn’t if this industry will evolve but who will lead the charge. The modern digital gold rush is underway, and the smartest capital is already claiming it.

Opinion by: Fakhul Miah, managing director of GoMining Institutional.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Onchain social network Zora has built a reputation as a popular tool for artists, musicians and other creatives to monetize their content onchain, but the recent launch of its eponymous ZORA token has left many users confused and dissatisfied.

The token’s price tanked shortly after launch, with users and observers complaining about everything from poor communication from the team to the token’s distribution and utility models. 

This comes amid an overall decline in interest in the onchain creator economy and a changing perspective on whether blockchain tools like non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are still useful for creatives who want to monetize their work on the blockchain.

With creators and builders shifting focus and NFTs no longer selling like they used to, does the ZORA token drop symbolize the end of the creator-driven NFT model? Maybe not, but many creatives are changing their perspectives and the role blockchain should play in the creator economy. 

ZORA token launch and airdrop go awry

The ZORA token launched on April 23, and it quickly became a point of controversy among users. To start, Zora did not officially announce that it had gone live until two hours after it was already trading, leading to confusion on social media.

Source: ZachXBT

The token’s price quickly fell by over 50% within those roughly two hours, from $0.037 to $0.017, adding to users’ complaints. It has since fallen even further, sitting around $0.013 at the time of writing.

ZORA’s tokenomics also became a point of contention. 45% of the supply is reserved for the team and investors, while 25% is for the treasury — leaving 20% for community incentives and just 10% for the user airdrop. This led some to complain that the project was keeping too much for itself.

Others disliked its general lack of utility. Zora repeatedly stated that the token “is for fun only and does not entitle its holders to any governance rights or a claim on any equity ownership in Zora or its products.” But the project seemed to respond to this criticism on May 1 by announcing that ZORA would have some additional functionalities within the network.

However, many others came to the defense of the project, saying that sharing on the platform has been financially lucrative. Others were simply thankful they received anything at all.

Source: Wbnns

Singer Vérité, who has racked up hundreds of millions of streams as an independent artist and was an early adopter of Web3 tech, told Cointelegraph that “on a base level, I’m appreciative of being rewarded for participating in something early.”

She said that while she doesn’t know the team very well, “I feel like they are genuinely trying to construct new models for valuing digital artifacts and have built an aesthetic and culture around their brand in juxtaposition to what are usually awful crypto vibes.”

Source: Vérité

NFTs no longer the top of the creator food chain 

Zora’s token launch was the latest move in a broader shift away from the traditional NFT model for creators, in this case toward embracing the cultural dominance of memecoins. 

While posts on Zora used to be minted as NFTs, now each post creates an instantly tradeable memecoin, also known as a “content coin.” Creators are given 1% of the supply and earn 50% of the trading and liquidity provider fees.

Source: Zora

While the move from NFTs to content coins was itself controversial, it represents a shift to a new class of creators, according to Adam Levy, host of the Mint podcast and founder of Blueprint, which helps creators go viral onchain. He told Cointelegraph that the wild success of memecoin launchpad Pump.fun “brought in a brand new class of creators that now Zora is trying to capitalize on.”

I think the Pump.fun or coin-like model is a perfect token model for a new class of creators that are emerging just generally on the internet. I think it’s like the Gen Z brain rot type of creator that spends a lot of their time remixing content or trying to create viral content in terms of like memetic content.

NFT sales remain way down compared to their 2021 peak, and many creators have simply left the NFT space due to its perceived shortcomings. Music-related NFTs, which used to be prevalent on platforms like Zora, have taken a particularly hard beating.

Several builders of the most popular creator platforms have moved on to work on other projects. For instance, the team behind music NFT platform Sound.xyz has shifted its focus to a new platform called Vault, which still uses blockchain technology but keeps it hidden on the back end.

In a February X post, Sound co-founder David Greenstein said a hyperfocus on speculation led to the decline in NFT interest. “Over time, it became less about the artist, the music, and real connection—and more about financial transactions,” he wrote. “When speculation cooled, so did the energy behind supporting artists.”

This sentiment was echoed by Vérité, who said, “I don’t think digital artifacts will have lasting value outside of speculation, experience and patronage.”

Related: Tokenizing music royalties as NFTs could help the next Taylor Swift

According to music artist and builder Latashá, “We weren’t getting focused on culture; we were getting focused on speculation. And once the bear market hit, it really showcased that.” 

Latashá, who was previously head of community at Zora and is now building several blockchain-based platforms, told Cointelegraph that people also got too caught up in the language of Web3 instead of simply using the technology:

The language and the jargon and even the communities that created that really kind of boxed themselves in when they only stay in that place, right? And so, I always knew that the language was going to change and that the crypto was going to become just the tool, as it should be.

What’s next for the onchain creator economy?

Despite the shift of interest away from NFTs toward things like memecoins, as encapsulated by Zora, many builders and creators still believe blockchain remains incredibly powerful — just that maybe it needs to be used in a different way.

“I learned that you can’t force your idealism onto the world and into the market,” said Vérité. “I am less interested in making ‘Web3 tools’ work because they’re on the blockchain and more interested in finding new ways to solve problems that face artists, audiences and the systems that connect them, regardless of form.”

“I definitely won’t sell NFTs to fans,” she added.

Levy, on the other hand, remains firm in his belief in NFTs, specifically. “I still have endless conviction in what I’m doing,” he said. He pointed out that cryptocurrency overall, let alone NFTs, is still in the very early stages of adoption. “I think we all need to zoom out.”

I don’t think it’s just a fad. I don’t think that this is going to disappear. And I don’t think that because I’ve tasted the sugar of what this is as a creator. […] And I know there’s a better way to create content on the internet and to monetize on the internet.

One notable shift has been to hide the blockchain elements and focus solely on user experience. For example, rap duo Run The Jewels has a fan club where members are rewarded with “JWL” points that can be used to unlock exclusive experiences. JWL is actually an onchain token, but that fact is buried in the club’s FAQ page. 

“We still need to come up with a better way of making crypto wallets accessible to people so that it is easier,” Renata Lowenbraun, CEO of independent music Web3 platform Infanity, told Cointelegraph. “The moment that happens, everything will change.”

Lowenbraun compared blockchain to the internet, saying the internet took decades to truly catch on. NFTs, she argued, had a “false start” before the infrastructure had a chance to mature, “but it doesn’t mean it’s not going to stick and it’s not going to be around and it’s not going to have these amazing applications, particularly for creative people and creative ventures.”

For Latashá, the future is in the hands of the artists themselves. “I think artists are just going to build their platforms. I think that’s going to be the future,” she said.

From 2021 to 2024, we were really dependent on platforms. […] And then we witnessed platforms kind of move like Web2 platforms, where they had so much ownership over our worlds and how we move that I think we finally all learned like, ‘Oh yeah, if this is really about building something different, it’s going to have to come from us.’

Whatever the future of the Web3 creator economy holds, it’s clear that it won’t be without road bumps along the way. But if the builders and artists are to be believed, the road bumps lie on the path toward greater artist independence.

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