CoinGecko's RWA Report 2026 shows that in Q1 2026, tokenized gold spot trading volume reached $90.7 billion, surpassing the full-year 2025 total of $84.6 billion in a single quarter. The tokenized commodities sector grew its market cap by nearly 289% over 15 months, from $1.43 billion to $5.55 billion. As of February 2026, the total market cap of tokenized gold globally exceeded $6 billion, locking in over 1.2 million ounces of physical gold.
But beneath the scale: can these gold tokens generate yield beyond simply tracking the rise and fall of gold prices?

In the DeFi world, "Real Yield" has become a key benchmark distinguishing narrative from value. As RWA moves from "assets on-chain" to "yield on-chain," the competitive logic of gold tokens may be shifting.
This article does not dissect the minting mechanism itself, but rather cuts in from the perspective of yield structure and valuation logic, using PAXG, XAUT, gold ETFs, and gold mining stocks as references to dissect CAH's position in this coordinate system.

I. The Yield Structure Map of Gold-Related Assets
To understand the next stage of gold RWA, we must first see clearly the differences in revenue sources among gold-related assets.

A key fact: the revenue sources of most gold-related assets are singular.

Physical gold and gold ETFs only provide gold price exposure. Although gold mining stocks include operating profits, their share prices are affected by multiple factors such as management decisions, capital expenditures, and geopolitics, and their value correlation with gold itself is not pure. As on-chain gold tokens, PAXG and XAUT solve the problems of ownership on-chain and liquidity, but do not solve the yield problem.

Their commonality is that holders cannot obtain the operating cash flow from the upstream of the gold industry chain. In CAH's revenue source column, however, there is an additional item: "industrial profit."

II. The "Yield Vacuum" of First-Generation Gold Tokens

PAXG and XAUT are the dominant players in the current gold RWA market. XAUT has a market cap of approximately $2.52 billion, and PAXG approximately $2.32 billion, together accounting for 93% to 97% of the tokenized gold market.

Their mechanism design is very clear: the issuer deposits physical gold in a vault, then issues an equivalent amount of tokens on-chain. Each token corresponds to one ounce of mined gold. Holders can redeem physical gold at any time or trade on the secondary market.

This mechanism solves the circulation efficiency problem of gold, but leaves a structural blank: the token itself does not generate cash flow. Holding PAXG does not give you a share of Paxos' profits. Holding XAUT does not give you a share of Tether's operating income. Your only source of return is: gold price appreciation.

What does this mean in the DeFi context?

It means PAXG and XAUT are non-cash-flow assets. They can serve as trading tools, as stores of value, but cannot serve as yield-bearing assets. When DeFi protocols need "Real Yield" strategies, gold tokens cannot provide native yield. They can only be used for collateralized lending, and the lending yield comes from interest paid by borrowers, not from the asset itself.

For institutional allocators, this is a hard flaw. Institutions entering the RWA sector need not only asset exposure but also cash flow. Treasury RWA has coupon payments, real estate RWA has rent, credit RWA has interest. What does gold RWA have?

The answer from first-generation gold tokens: only the gold price.

III. Production Assets: Another Direction for RWA

CAH has chosen a different path: it anchors not to mined gold bars in a vault, but to the ongoing gold production capacity of an Indonesian mining area. Cahaya is rooted in the Indonesian core mining enterprise PT. CAHAYA SELATAN GEMULANG, holding a 5,000-hectare legal mining area and a 30-year compliant mining permit. The mine owner has been deeply engaged in Indonesian gold mining for more than twenty years. The mine currently produces approximately 20 kg of physical gold per day and has planned to advance toward 50 to 100 kg per day.

This means CAH's underlying asset is a production asset, not a storage asset.

The core difference between production assets and storage assets is: the former generates cash flow, the latter does not.

Leveraging Indonesia's extremely low labor and energy costs, the gold industry enjoys a 2-3x profit margin from mine extraction to terminal retail, along with a 30% wholesale-retail premium. The operating profits generated by the mine's daily gold production flow back into the CAH ecosystem through channels such as staking yield distribution, market building, and vault reserve increases.

This is not "asset mapping," but "cash flow on-chain."

Under DeFi's "Real Yield" framework, CAH's revenue source is not token issuance, not incoming funds from later participants, but real cash flow generated from gold sales. The mine is producing gold, the gold is being operated, and profits are flowing back—this is a verifiable cycle.

This distinguishes CAH from first-generation gold tokens in terms of yield structure: it provides both gold price exposure and industrial profit exposure.

IV. Valuation Logic and Capital Efficiency
Differences in yield structure ultimately transmit to valuation logic and capital efficiency.

The valuation of non-cash-flow assets depends on price trends, market sentiment, liquidity premiums, and comparable valuations. PAXG and XAUT's value anchor is the gold price; their valuation models are relatively simple but also relatively passive. They cannot be priced using discounted cash flow (DCF) because there is simply no cash flow.

The valuation of cash-flow assets can introduce traditional financial tools such as DCF, yield rates, and cash flow multiples. If CAH's profit repatriation data is verifiable and sustainable, then it could potentially be priced by DeFi protocols as a yield-bearing asset.

This brings differences in capital efficiency.

In DeFi lending protocols, non-cash-flow assets as collateral have lower capital efficiency because the collateral itself generates no yield, borrowers must pay interest, and lenders bear opportunity costs. If the collateral itself can generate cash flow, more complex structured products can be designed: yield-bearing collateral, real yield vaults, RWA yield aggregators.

CAH's staking mechanism and node lock-up mechanism further change the circulation structure. Staking allows CAH to exit circulation during the lock-up period, and node subscriptions use permanent lock-up, meaning this portion of CAH permanently exits circulation. The supply side mints on demand, the circulation side continuously contracts, and the demand side is driven by industrial profits and ecosystem participation.

This constitutes a capital efficiency logic different from first-generation gold tokens: from static collateral to yield-bearing assets.

Conclusion: The Next Stop for Gold RWA
In the first phase of gold RWA, the competition was "who can put more gold bars on-chain." PAXG and XAUT won this round.

In the second phase, the competition may no longer be about the quantity of gold bars, but about who can bring the cash flow of the gold industry chain on-chain.

When RWA begins to talk about "Real Yield," when DeFi protocols begin to seek yield-bearing assets, when institutional allocators are no longer satisfied with price exposure—the valuation logic of gold tokens will no longer be determined solely by the gold price.

CAH is an early sample. It attempts to prove: gold tokens can be more than receipts for a vault; they can also be the cash flow of a mine.

In the next stage of gold RWA, the competition is not about who maps more gold, but about who can make gold generate yield on its own.

About Cahaya：
Cahaya is an RWA ecosystem extending Indonesia’s physical gold mining industry into Web3. CAH is the core digital token that carries the value of its gold assets.

Website: https://cahaya-mine.com