iShares Gold Trust

Physical gold bullion sits behind every share of IAU. BlackRock's iShares trust stores gold bars in secured vaults and issues shares that each represent a fraction of an ounce, so the price closely follows spot gold minus a small annual fee. It exists to make owning gold as easy as buying a stock, sparing investors the cost and hassle of storing and insuring metal themselves. For years its lower expense ratio has made it the cheaper alternative to the larger, older GLD, which is why cost-conscious buyers often choose it. People hold it as a hedge against inflation and currency debasement, a safe haven when markets or geopolitics turn ugly, and a diversifier that historically does not move in step with stocks. It pays no income and generates no cash flow; the entire return is whatever happens to the gold price.

On MyRWA, IAU trades tokenized across 10 on-chain venues - see the listings below.