2025 was marked by a massive influx of capital into physical gold ETFs.
According to Happy Coin News, last year saw a record-breaking investment in XAU ETFs, reaching $89 billion. This figure is more than 22 times higher than the 2024 level. Thanks to the huge demand for derivatives, their market capitalization doubled to $559 billion, while the weight of precious metal held by fund issuers increased to 4,025 tonnes.
Capital Inflow into Gold ETFs
The chart shows that XAU-based ETFs enjoyed the greatest demand in North America. Asia ranked second by this metric, and Europe, where capital outflows from ETFs were periodically recorded, came in third. The United States was the main driver of investment growth in North America. This is explained by the weakening dollar, economic disruptions caused by tariff wars, and heightened geopolitical tensions.
Digital gold ETFs, as Bitcoin is sometimes called, have proven much less popular. In 2025, cryptocurrency funds attracted four times less capital – $21.4 billion. Furthermore, this figure was 43% lower than the $35.2 billion recorded in 2024. This negative trend was a consequence of the digital asset's decline in price that began in October, which led to capital withdrawals from BTC ETFs.