Digital gold market could reach $170 billion by 2031, WGC and BCG say

The digital gold market is expected to grow to $160 billion to $170 billion by 2031, and new research suggests that the demand could be as high as $700 billion once there are no more obstacles to adoption. Summary World Gold Council and Boston Consulting Group estimate the current digital gold market at $45–55 billion. Their base-case forecast puts the market at $160–170 billion by 2031, with $270–280 billion possible in a faster-growth scenario. The report identifies up to $700 billion in latent demand, not a forecast of investment flows over the next five years. Tokenized gold spot trading exceeded $90 billion in the first quarter of 2026, surpassing the full-year 2025 total. Survey respondents identified trust, access, usefulness and cost as the main barriers to investing in digital gold. In an October 19 report, the World Gold Council (WGC) and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) valued the digital gold market at $45–55 billion, which consists of tokenized gold and digital products secured by vaulted gold bullion. In its base case projections it projects growth of approximately 27% annually over the next five years. However, the $700 billion figure represents a separate estimate of p...