Digital Gold Set to Triple in Size: WGC Projects a $170 Billion Market by 2031

Original article: El oro digital se apresta a triplicar su tamaño: el WGC proyecta un mercado de 170.000 millones para 2031

The World Gold Council and Boston Consulting Group estimate that latent demand reaches $700 billion, but caution that lack of trust and market fragmentation hinder the conversion of interest into real investments.

The Citizen

The digital gold market is at a tipping point. What was just a few years ago a niche valued at a few billion dollars today moves between $45 billion and $55 billion, and according to projections by the World Gold Council (WGC) and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), it could reach $160 billion–$170 billion by 2031. This information, published in the report “Digital Gold: Unlocking a $700-Billion Opportunity”, implies a compound annual growth rate of approximately 27% over the next five years.

However, this figure is far from a ceiling. In a more optimistic scenario—where barriers to adoption are swiftly removed—the market could scale up to $270 billion–$280 billion. Conversely, if obstacles persist, growth would be limited to $70 billion–$80 billion. The WGC explicitly indicates that the total latent demand reaches $700 billion, but insists that this figure is not a forecast, but rather the maximum potential that could be unlocked if structural issues in the sector are resolved.

The Trust Paradox

The report, presented at the Money20/20 event in Las Vegas, reveals a notable gap between investor appetite and the actual realization of investments. Nearly 9 out of 10 retail investors surveyed—in a sample of over 12,000 people across 12 markets—stated they would consider purchasing digital gold under the right conditions. However, actual adoption remains marginal: the digital market accounts for less than 1% of the physical gold investment market, valued at around $13 trillion.

“Demand, in other words, is not the problem. Conversion is the problem,” the document states. The primary obstacle is trust: nearly four out of five investors require assurances that the product is backed by physical gold, protected by a clear regulatory framework, and, above all, redeemable for the actual metal. “A clear and accessible path for redeeming holdings for physical gold would give investors confidence that a real asset backs their position,” states the WGC.

The Rise of Tokenized Gold

Within the realm of digital gold, the segment showing the most significant dynamism is that of tokenized gold. Its market value has quintupled since late 2024, now standing at around $6 billion. In the first quarter of 2026, the accumulated trading volumes of tokenized gold reached $90 billion, surpassing the total recorded for all of 2025. Products like PAX Gold (PAXG) and Tether Gold lead a market that, nonetheless, remains a tiny fraction of the whole.

The profile of the investor driving this growth is notably younger. Awareness of digital gold reaches 50% among investors aged 25 to 34, compared to only 23% among those over 55. Furthermore, younger investors are twice as likely to invest if entry barriers are removed.

A Market That Expands the Pie, Not Divides It

One of the most relevant findings of the report is that digital gold does not seem to cannibalize demand for bullion, coins, or ETFs. Approximately 65% of latent demand comes from people who do not currently own gold. Among investors who already hold gold in other forms, more than half would finance their digital investment with money not previously allocated to the metal. Among those who have already purchased digital gold, 52% had never invested in gold before, and 92% of them later acquired other gold products.

The WGC Plan: “Gold as a Service”

To unlock that potential, the WGC does not limit itself to diagnosis. In March 2026, it presented, along with BCG, the concept of “Gold as a Service”, a shared infrastructure aimed at standardizing custody, regulatory compliance, and redemption processes, connecting the physical holding of gold with digital issuance and product management systems.

“The appeal of gold has endured for thousands of years because what it represents has not changed: a scarce, physical, reliable, and strategic asset. However, as the financial world digitizes, the gold market must adapt,” stated David Tait, CEO of the WGC.

The question looming over the report is not whether gold can be traded digitally—that is already possible—but whether the sector will be able to build a trustworthy, interoperable, and scalable market from the current fragmentation of providers and standards. The next five years will be crucial in determining whether digital gold transitions from being a niche to becoming a central piece of the global financial ecosystem.