# Ketju research: Paxos Gold (PAXG)

- URL: https://riadefi.com/rejections/paxos-gold/
- Verdict: rejected
- Type: Tokenized commodities
- Reviewed: 2026-09-23
- Last confirmed: 2026-09-23

## Research summary

A PAXG token is a warehouse receipt for one fine troy ounce of gold. Paxos Trust Company, N.A., a national trust bank the OCC has supervised since its New York charter converted on 2025-12-12, holds London Good Delivery bars in segregated accounts for PAXG holders. The terms say a holder owns “a pro rata portion of Allocated Gold,” and Paxos shows the serial numbers of the bars behind any address. KPMG attests the reserve each month. The 2019 white paper on paxg.com names Brink’s London vaults; the current terms say only LBMA vaults in London and name no operator.

PAXG now lives on two chains. Paxos launched it on Solana on 2026-06-25 as a Token-2022 mint with a permanent delegate, and upgraded the Ethereum contract so tokens can move between the two. On both chains Paxos can freeze any address and take its tokens: on Ethereum through freeze and wipeFrozenAddress, on Solana because the freeze authority and the permanent delegate are the same Paxos address. The terms let Paxos freeze on a legal order, on a partner’s notice, or “in its sole discretion.”

The adverse assessment stands, now on one ground rather than two. On 2025-10-11 PAXG traded about 22% below spot gold on Binance, and on 2025-10-17 several percent above it. The price can only be pulled back to gold by a verified Paxos customer who buys the cheap token and redeems it, and that loop takes an account, fees, and several business days. Nothing in the Solana launch changes who can redeem or how fast; Solana DEXs add places to sell, not a way to redeem. The earlier memo also leaned on the NYDFS order of 2025-08-07 as a failure inside the last twelve months. That window closed on 2026-08-07, and this review found no later enforcement action against Paxos, so the order is now history, not a current finding. A client who wants gold is better served by a physically backed gold ETF, whose authorized participants can create and redeem shares every trading day.

## Observable review triggers

- PAXG holds within normal gold-ETF tolerance of spot gold through a later market-stress event
- Paxos opens a redemption path that is faster, cheaper, or open to holders who are not Paxos customers
- Paxos names a vault operator other than Brink’s, or a monthly attestation shows fewer ounces than tokens, is missed, or changes attestor
- Paxos announces a storage fee under Section 15.2, collected by minting new PAXG
- Paxos issues PAXG on a third chain, or the Solana freeze authority, permanent delegate, or mint multisig changes
- Any new AML, sanctions, or supervisory enforcement action against Paxos

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Published by Ketju Research (https://ketjuresearch.com). Educational analysis only; not legal, tax, compliance, or investment advice.
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