Gold Breaks All Records: X-Ray Audit of Pax Gold $PAXG

Gold has just crossed a historic milestone: over $4,300 per ounce, an all-time record. Even better, the yellow metal is now the first asset in the world to exceed $30 trillion in market capitalization, a dizzying figure that places it ahead of all other asset classes.

Around the world, the precious metal is in high demand. In some specialized shops, buyers queue for hours to obtain coins and bars. Gold is once again the center of attention, both as a safe haven and a symbol of opportunity.

Gold at the Summit: Why Everyone is Talking About It

A Historic Rise

In just a few weeks, the Gold price has exploded, breaking through the $4,300 per ounce mark in early October. This lightning-fast movement has propelled the total market capitalization of gold to over $30 trillion, a first in modern history. Major financial institutions are revising their projections: HSBC, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs now anticipate a scenario of $5,000 per ounce by 2026.

Institutional Support

Central banks continue to accumulate gold at a steady pace, seeking to protect themselves from inflation and progressive de-dollarization. Gold-backed ETFs are also recording record inflows, proof that confidence is shifting toward tangible assets.

Rush for Physical Gold

At specialized counters, the scene is becoming familiar: endless queues, stock shortages, extended delivery times. In some major cities, dozens of people wait for hours to buy a few ounces of metal, fearing the price will soar even higher. Gold fever is setting in, and this time it affects institutional investors as much as individuals.

A concrete example here at Martin Place, in the heart of Sydney, impressive lines have formed in front of physical gold counters. The image, shared on Reddit, shows dozens of people waiting to buy gold. A scene that regulars had never seen before.

Why is the Price of Gold Rising?

The current surge results from a cocktail of four main elements: Fear, Fed, Flow, and FOMO:

Fear: Global Instability

Geopolitical tensions, persistent inflation, and political uncertainties are pushing investors to seek refuge in tangible assets.

Fed: Monetary Policy

The U.S. Federal Reserve is moving toward easing its interest rate policy. Lower rates weaken the dollar, mechanically strengthening the attractiveness of the yellow metal for international buyers.

Flow: Institutional Flows

Central banks and investment funds are massively accumulating gold. The World Gold Council reports that their purchases are at their highest in over ten years.

FOMO: The Snowball Effect

The spectacular rise in the Gold price naturally attracts new investors, fascinated by this surge and afraid of missing the next big wave. This self-sustaining dynamic fuels demand, transforming gold into both a rational and emotional asset.

What Are the Alternatives to Physical Gold?

Other Precious Metals

Silver, platinum, or palladium also benefit from the bullish wave on tangible assets. But their industrial use makes them more sensitive to economic cycles, unlike gold, which retains an essentially patrimonial function.

₿ Bitcoin, the "Digital gold"

Often compared to gold, Bitcoin shares several of its characteristics: scarcity, limited supply, and resistance to devaluation. With a fixed cap of 21 million units, it adopts the codes of the precious metal while freeing itself from physical constraints. Bitcoin aims to be a currency but displays the same virtues as a bar: difficult to produce, impossible to counterfeit, and perceived as a store of value. This parallel fuels the nickname "Digital gold," reflecting a generation that prefers cryptography to safes.

ETFs: The Modern Version of Paper Gold

Gold-backed ETFs allow investment in the metal without physically owning it. They replicate the Gold price on the stock market, offering easy and liquid exposure. But the investor does not directly hold the metal: they own a share of a fund that itself holds the gold. This nuance is important: ETFs simplify access but remove the notion of actual possession.

Tokenized Gold: The New Frontier

Gold-backed tokens like Pax Gold (PAXG) or Tether Gold (XAUT) go further than ETFs. Each token corresponds to an ounce of gold stored in a vault, thus offering direct exposure to the metal in digital form.

Gold tokenization makes gold ultra-divisible, transferable, and accessible in a few clicks, without banking intermediary or logistical constraint. These Gold-backed cryptocurrencies, true tokenized real-world assets (RWA), combine the tangible and the digital, allowing the exchange or use of gold shares like any other digital asset.

Between ETF and token, the difference is not just in form: where ETFs offer traditional exposure, tokens add a layer of flexibility and innovation. And in a world where trust is digitizing, this nuance could make all the difference.

The X-Ray Analysis of Pax Gold ($PAXG)

With the current enthusiasm around gold, it's not surprising to see gold-backed cryptos also attracting investor attention. But as with any digital asset, it remains essential to do your own research before investing your funds.

This is where Kryll X-Ray comes in: a complete audit designed to analyze the financial aspect, fundamentals, cybersecurity, smart contract, and on-chain data.

Today, Pax Gold ($PAXG) goes under the scanner; an opportunity to see if its vault truly overflows with gold... or just beautiful promises.

Financial Analysis: The Numbers Speak

• Token price: $4,385.01
• Market cap: $1.3 billion
• 24h volume: $1.04 billion (+135.95%)
• Volume breakdown:
• CEX: $1.01B (+138.84%)
• DEX: $36.39M (+76.91%)
• Liquidity ratio: Infinite % - this is normally a bad sign as it can indicate that a token can be created without limit, which dilutes its value. But here, it's different: PAXG is backed by real gold. Each token issued corresponds to an ounce of gold purchased and stored. The creation of new tokens therefore depends directly on demand, like a stablecoin, without causing inflation since each issuance is guaranteed by a physical asset at a 1:1 ratio.

👉 At first glance, these figures reflect strong activity on centralized markets (CEX), far superior to that of DEXs. The financial dynamic is solid, supported by significant volumes and strong market confidence, but the "unlimited" liquidity mechanism remains a point to monitor from a technical perspective.

Fundamental Analysis: The Project Basis

X-Ray describes Pax Gold ($PAXG) as a Gold-backed cryptocurrency: each token represents an ounce of gold stored in professional vaults under the custody of Paxos Trust Company, in London.

• Established project: 6 years of existence (maturity: 74 months)
• Whitepaper: not directly available via the project page
• Project country: not specified
• CEX listing: Very good score

👉 Concretely, PAXG offers direct exposure to the price of gold via the tokenization of a real asset (Real-world asset token). Holders can convert their tokens into physical gold or dollars, making it a hybrid product between precious metal and programmable crypto asset.

Social Analysis: Low Community Presence

• X activity: low
• CoinGecko activity: correct, over 34,000 users follow the token

👉 Pax Gold is not a community project, and it shows. Social activity remains discreet, centered on institutional communication from Paxos Trust Company. For an asset of this type, this is not necessarily a flaw.

Cybersecurity Analysis: A Point of Vigilance

According to the Kryll X-Ray audit, the official Paxos website receives a security rating of E, which reflects several visible flaws in its web configuration.

• ⚠️ Exposed IP address and server: the site's technical information is publicly accessible, which facilitates the work of attackers seeking to identify specific vulnerabilities.
• ⚠️ Missing X-Frame-Options: the site can potentially be integrated into external pages, opening the door to clickjacking attacks.
• ⚠️ Absent Content-Security-Policy: this policy is essential to prevent the injection of malicious scripts (XSS). Its absence makes the attack surface larger.

👉 In short: the Paxos platform is not vulnerable to the point of endangering funds, but it presents basic gaps in the configuration of its web protections. For a regulated company handling billions in tokenized assets, these oversights are surprising and should be corrected to reduce the risks of exploitation via frontal attacks or social engineering.

Smart Contract Analysis: The Power Behind the Token

The Kryll X-Ray audit highlights two sensitive points on the structure of Pax Gold's ($PAXG) smart contract.

• ⚠️ The first concerns the presence of a hidden owner, a masked owner who retains certain administrative control over the contract without their identity or privileges being clearly documented.

👉 This does not necessarily mean a risk of abuse, but it reflects a centralization of management power. In the case of a regulated asset like PAXG, this approach is classic, but it relies on trust in the issuer rather than on code transparency.

• ⚠️ The second point, and the most worrying, is that the contract visible on the blockchain is not the real contract: it is a proxy, a technical interface that redirects to a hidden implementation contract.

👉 In other words, the code that users can consult does not fully reflect the token's logic. The issuer can update or modify this logic without having to deploy a new contract.

In practice, this means that the original contract could contain extended authorizations, such as the ability to freeze funds, cancel transactions, whitelist or blacklist certain addresses, or even mint and burn tokens according to compliance needs.

This is an obvious centralization risk, but also a regulatory necessity. Paxos Trust Company, as a regulated entity in the United States, must be able to act on funds in case of fraud, investigation, or legal sanctions. These functions are not intended to restrict ordinary users but to ensure compliance with AML (Anti-Money Laundering) and CFT (Countering Financing of Terrorism) regulations.

On-Chain Data Analysis: Institutional Distribution

• Number of holders: 58,098
• Total transactions: 4,705,779
• Recent activity: +343 holders
• ⚠️ One address holds 15% of the total supply

👉 Overall, the on-chain distribution is consistent with the token's institutional profile. The address most likely corresponds to a major centralized exchange, which holds PAXG on behalf of its users. The observed concentration is therefore not alarming in itself, but it illustrates the centralization of liquidity around large platforms rather than direct holding by individual investors.

The Verdict: Strengths and Weaknesses of Pax Gold ($PAXG)

Strengths:

• High liquidity, mainly concentrated on CEXs, with over a billion dollars traded in 24 hours.
• Logical and healthy infinite liquidity ratio for a token backed by a physical asset: each PAXG issuance corresponds to a real ounce of gold purchased at a 1:1 ratio.
• Mature project, with over 6 years of existence, a sign of established stability and adoption.
• Very good CEX listing score, proof of solid integration on major exchange platforms.
• On-chain data consistent with an institutional profile: over 58,000 holders and nearly 5 million transactions, stable distribution over time.

Weaknesses:

• Proxy contract and hidden owner: the visible contract is just a facade, redirecting to an implementation contract that can be modified.
• Cybersecurity grade E, revealing several technical flaws:
• Exposed IP address and server
• Missing X-Frame-Options header
• Absent Content-Security-Policy
• Partial supply concentration: a single address holds approximately 15% of tokens
• Whitepaper not available

Conclusion

Pax Gold ($PAXG) stands out as one of the most credible Gold-backed tokens on the market, supported by a regulated company and real backing by physical gold. Its contractual architecture, although highly centralized, meets the regulatory requirements of traditional finance, a reality that is difficult to bypass for an "official" asset.

But this compliance comes at a price: less technical transparency, imperfect cybersecurity, and total control in the hands of the issuer.

For an investor, PAXG is a stable, regulated, institutional digital safe haven asset, but not decentralized. It combines the security of metal with the flexibility of digital, provided one accepts that here, the key to the vault is always in the hands of Paxos.

Why use X-Ray?

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• 🧭 Considerable time savings: No more endless hours of research: X-Ray centralizes all critical data in one click.
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• 💬 AI integration: Ask a question to the Kryll³ AI Agent to trigger an audit or deepen a point, without even opening the interface. 100% conversational, as if you were talking to a crypto expert with infinite knowledge.
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With all these cross-analyses, X-Ray offers much more than a simple glance: it's a true intelligent dashboard, designed so everyone can understand, compare, and decide without getting lost in complexity.

How to access X-Ray?

Want to audit a token or do a quick check before investing? The X-Ray module from Kryll³ is here to simplify your life. Here's how to access it in seconds:

1. Go to the X-Ray tab on the Kryll³ platform
2. Connect your Web3 wallet to unlock all X-Ray features (Don't have a Web3 wallet? Click here)

✅ You're now on X-Ray!
All you have to do is enter the name or address of a token to launch the complete analysis and get a clear and synthetic audit of the crypto of your choice.