Buy PAX Gold

Pax Gold is a cryptocurrency backed by physical gold. One PAXG token represents one fine troy ounce of London Good Delivery gold held in professional vaults in London, so the token is designed to move with the gold price rather than with the crypto market.

PAXG is issued by Paxos Trust Company, a regulated US trust institution, and launched on 5 September 2019. It was created as an Ethereum token, which is why it can be sent, held and traded like any other cryptocurrency while the metal behind it stays in a vault. Paxos has since extended PAXG to additional networks, so always check which network a platform supports before you send it.

The point of the product is fractional ownership. A London Good Delivery bar is a large piece of metal, generally around 400 fine troy ounces, and buying one outright is out of reach for most people. PAXG is divisible to 18 decimal places, so you can hold a very small slice of a real bar rather than a claim on a fund that owns gold somewhere.

How does Pax Gold work?

Paxos issues PAXG when gold is allocated to back it and destroys tokens when gold leaves the pool, so the number of tokens in circulation is meant to correspond to the ounces held.

The gold is described as allocated, which matters more than it sounds. Allocated gold means specific bars, identifiable by serial number, weight and purity, held for the benefit of token holders and kept separate from the issuer's own assets. Unallocated gold, by contrast, is just a claim against an institution's balance sheet. Paxos holds the metal in custody, and PAXG holders have beneficial ownership of a pro rata share of it.

Two things support that claim. A third party accounting firm publishes monthly attestation reports comparing the tokens in circulation with the ounces in the vaults, and Paxos operates a public lookup tool that maps holdings to individual bars. Attestations are narrower than a full company audit, so read them for what they are: a periodic check on backing rather than a verdict on the issuer's overall financial health. The details are published on the Pax Gold product page.

The gold itself has to meet the London Good Delivery standard, a set of specifications maintained by the London Bullion Market Association covering weight, purity, appearance and the accredited refiners allowed to produce the bars.

Pax Gold vs physical gold vs gold ETFs

	Pax Gold	Physical bullion	Gold ETFs and ETCs
What you hold	A token representing beneficial ownership of allocated gold	The metal itself	Shares or securities issued by a fund or note issuer
Smallest practical holding	A fraction of an ounce	A coin or small bar	One share or unit
Storage	Vaulted by the issuer	Your problem, or a paid vault	Handled by the fund
Ongoing charge	Paxos does not currently charge holders a storage fee, although its terms allow it to introduce one with notice	Vault, insurance or safe costs if you use them	An annual management fee or expense ratio
Trading hours	Any time, on crypto rails	Dealer hours	Stock exchange hours
Physical delivery	Possible through Paxos, subject to a large minimum	Already yours	Generally not available to ordinary holders
Extra risks	Issuer, custody, network and smart contract risk	Theft, loss, authentication, spreads	Fund structure and issuer risk

The trade off is straightforward. PAXG gives you gold exposure with fractional sizing and blockchain portability, and in exchange you take on an issuer, a custodian and a blockchain that physical bullion does not involve.

What is PAXG used for?

• Gold exposure inside a crypto portfolio. Holders use PAXG to sit in an asset that does not follow crypto market cycles without moving money off the blockchain entirely.
• Fractional and portable ownership. Ounces can be split and sent anywhere at any hour, which is not something you can do with a bar in a safe.
• Collateral and settlement. Because PAXG is a standard token, it can be used in the same places other tokens are used, including trading pairs and on-chain applications.
• A step towards tokenized real world assets. Gold was one of the first physical assets to be represented on a blockchain at scale. Our guide to real world asset tokenization explains the broader category.

Who issues PAXG, and how is it regulated?

Paxos Trust Company issues PAXG. Paxos began as a New York limited purpose trust company supervised by the New York State Department of Financial Services, which specifically authorized PAXG before it launched in 2019. In December 2025 Paxos converted to a national trust charter supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and its current terms describe PAXG as issued under that approval.

The gold backing PAXG is held on a segregated basis for token holders rather than as an asset of the issuer, which is intended to keep it out of the general pool if Paxos ever failed. That is a meaningful protection, but it is not a guarantee. Holders would still depend on records being accurate, on an administrator identifying and distributing the metal, and on the legal recognition of their interest. Paxos is not a bank, PAXG is not a deposit, and no government guarantee scheme stands behind it.

Can you redeem PAXG for physical gold?

Yes, but the practical answer for most people is no.

Redemption runs through Paxos, not through the exchange you bought on, so you need a verified Paxos account. Paxos also sets a minimum for physical delivery of a London Good Delivery bar, currently 430 PAXG plus applicable fees per bar, and you cover the delivery and logistics costs. Smaller holders can convert to US dollars through Paxos or, far more commonly, simply sell their PAXG on the market.

So treat physical redemption as the mechanism that anchors the token to real metal rather than as a feature you are likely to use.

What should US customers consider before buying PAXG?

PAXG carries the risks of the gold price and the risks of a token at the same time. Consider the following before you buy.

• The gold price can fall. Gold is less volatile than most cryptoassets, but it is not a fixed value. PAXG follows it down as well as up.
• You are relying on an issuer. The token is only as good as Paxos, its custodians, its records and its continued permission to operate. That is a very different risk profile to holding a coin whose value depends on no company at all.
• It can trade away from the gold price. PAXG is designed to track the value of its backing, but it changes hands on crypto venues, so it can trade at a premium or a discount at any given moment.
• Redemption is not a retail feature. The minimum for a physical bar puts direct delivery out of reach for most holders.
• It is a token, with token risks. Smart contract issues, network congestion and sending to the wrong address all still apply.
• No federal protection. Cryptoassets are not deposits. PAXG is not covered by FDIC deposit insurance or by SIPC protection, and Paxos is not an FDIC insured bank, so neither scheme covers a fall in the gold price or the failure of an issuer, custodian or crypto platform.

Pax Gold on CoinJar in the US

CoinJar has operated since 2013 and lists PAXG against US dollars, so you can buy, sell and hold it without converting through another cryptocurrency first. Current charges are on our fees page, and live US dollar rates are on our cryptocurrency prices page.

PAXG sits alongside the rest of our supported cryptocurrency list. Because PAXG is issued as an Ethereum token, you can withdraw it to a wallet that supports the Ethereum network, and our guide to crypto transfers explains what to check before you send.

PAXG you hold with CoinJar is kept in our custody infrastructure, where private keys are split across offline and hardware protected systems so no single party can move assets on its own. You can read how that works on our security page.

CoinJar, Inc. is registered with FinCEN as a money services business, NMLS ID 2492913, and holds money transmitter licenses in a growing number of states. Registration and licensing are legal requirements, not government endorsement of CoinJar or Pax Gold. Availability varies by location, so check whether CoinJar operates in your state.

How is PAXG taxed in the United States?

The IRS generally treats PAXG as property for federal tax purposes. A taxable event can occur when you sell it for US dollars, exchange it for another cryptoasset or spend it on goods or services. A genuine gift is generally treated differently and does not usually create an income tax gain or loss for the giver, although separate gift tax reporting rules may apply.

The IRS explains these rules on its official digital assets page. This is general information, not tax advice. Consider speaking to a qualified tax professional about your circumstances.