The digital gold market, valued at an estimated $45-billion to $55-billion today, could unlock up to $700-billion in latent demand if barriers to adoption are removed, according to new research from the World Gold Council (WGC) and Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

The report, published on October 19, 2026, points to substantial untapped appetite among retail investors, with nearly nine in ten surveyed saying they would consider digital gold under the right conditions. The $700-billion figure represents total latent demand that could be released over time, rather than a near-term forecast.

The report's five-year base case sees digital gold growing by about 27% a year to between $160-billion and $170-billion by 2031. That could rise to between $270-billion and $280-billion over the same period if more barriers fall faster.

Tokenised gold, one segment of the digital gold market alongside vaulted digital gold, has grown fivefold in value since late 2024 to about $6-billion. Cumulative spot trading volumes in tokenised gold exceeded $90-billion in the first quarter of 2026, more than in the whole of 2025.

The WGC identifies four key barriers holding investors back: trust, access, utility and cost. Investors point to stronger consumer protections, transparent proof of backing, accessible redemption and clearer regulation as the conditions most likely to increase confidence in digital gold.

Access is another critical barrier. Where digital gold is sold through familiar channels such as super-apps, payment platforms and banking apps — as is done in China, India and Indonesia — the share of investors who hold it is currently up to seven times higher than in less mature markets.

The WGC argues that solving for these barriers could expand the gold market rather than just redistribute demand. About 65% of the latent demand sits with people who do not yet own gold. Among today's digital gold investors, 52% held no gold before their first digital purchase, of which 92% have since bought other forms of gold, highlighting that digital gold can act as an entry point to the wider gold market.

Even allowing for some movement between existing gold products, the base case points to about $95-billion of genuinely new demand for gold by 2031. Younger investors are leading the way: awareness of digital gold reaches 50% among 25- to 34-year-olds, compared with 23% among those aged 55 and over.

WGC CEO David Tait said significant investor interest in digital gold is clear, but demand cannot scale without the right infrastructure behind it. The WGC is developing an initiative called Gold as a Service, a shared infrastructure platform designed to help issuers bring competitive, compliant digital gold products to market more efficiently, supported by sourcing, custody and compliance capabilities they would otherwise need to build themselves.

"But infrastructure alone is not enough. Building a liquid, trusted market will require the wider industry to work to the same standards, so investors can have confidence in what they are buying," Tait said.

The platform would act as an open system connecting the physical custody of gold with the digital systems used to issue and manage gold-backed products, standardising custody coordination, reconciliation, compliance and redemption.

WGC senior market analyst Louise Street told Mining Weekly that the prospects for digital gold in South Africa are positive, given the country's familiarity with crypto and understanding of gold as an investment asset. She noted that regulators also have a role to play, with momentum already building in certain markets to regulate digital gold.

"We undertook this project with the belief that gold has the potential to become the world's most credible digital asset — not despite its physical nature, but because of it," said BCG managing director and partner Urs Rahne. "Our research has reinforced our confidence in the scale of this opportunity and provided a clearer understanding of what it will take to realise its full potential."