As traditional gold markets heat up, crypto investors are following suit—flocking to tokenized versions of the precious metal that offer both price exposure and digital flexibility.

Gold-backed cryptocurrencies like Paxos Gold (PAXG) and Tether Gold (XAUT) have risen 24.15% and 23.7% respectively year-to-date to new all-time highs above $3,300, roughly matching the performance of spot gold. Their prices have since receded slightly to $3,265 and $3,244, respectively.

While gold-backed cryptocurrencies surged so far this year, the wider cryptocurrency market has been in a downtrend. Bitcoin (BTC) has lost more than 11% of its value so far this year, while the wider crypto market has fallen by a little over 30%, based on the CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index.

The tokens, which are backed by physical gold and track its price, experienced a surge in value as investors sought refuge from the uncertainty induced by the escalating U.S.-China trade war.

The move echoes a broader return to gold as a safe-haven asset. Inflows into gold ETFs hit 226.5 tonnes in the first quarter of 2025, the highest level since early 2022, according to data from the World Gold Council. Nearly 60% of that demand came from North America.

Similarly, gold-backed cryptocurrencies saw net token minting of over $42.7 million in the first quarter of the year, according to data from RWA.xyz, helping along with gold’s price appreciation raise their total market capitalization near $1.4 billion.

Popcat, a top Solana meme coin, has staged a strong comeback as investors bought the dip and exchange reserves dropped.

Popcat (POPCAT) rose for four consecutive days, reaching a high of $0.25, its highest level since March 25. It has jumped by almos 100% from its lowest level this month. 

The jump happened as crypto investors bought the dip in some specific Solana (SOL) meme coins like Fartcoin (FARTCOIN), Goatseus Maximus, Fartboy, and Vine.

Nansen data shows that more investors are moving their Popcat tokens from exchanges to self-custody. Exchange balances have dropped by almost 10% in the last seven days to 239.5 million, down from 262 million the same day last week. Most of these outflows were from Bybit, Raydium, and Coinbase.

The weekly supply of Popcat tokens on exchanges dropped by 2.3% to 24%. Falling exchange reserves is a bullish sign, signaling that more investors are taking a long-term view of the coin and are not dumping their tokens.

More data shows that the most profitable Popcat traders in the last seven days are not selling. The top trader has made a profit of $173,000 and still holds 97% of his position. The chart below shows that many of these traders still hold their tokens.

Popcat price analysis

The daily chart shows that the Popcat price has bounced back in the past few days. This rebound happened after the token formed a falling wedge pattern, which is shown in blue. This pattern is made up of two descending and converging trendlines. 

The Popcat token has moved slightly above the 50-day moving average, while the Relative Strength Index and other oscillators have pointed upward.

Therefore, the coin will likely keep rising as bulls target the 23.6% retracement level at $0.5982, up 142% from the current level.