Digital Gold Investment Interest Surges; ICDX Projects Transactions to Reach 100 Million Tonnes by 2026
Jakarta — Public interest in digital gold investment continues to rise amid global economic uncertainty and commodity price volatility. Transaction activity has surged in line with recent increases in world gold prices.
Nursalam, Director of the Indonesia Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (ICDX), stated that fluctuating gold price movements have encouraged investors to be more active in commodity market transactions. “When prices move up and down, many investors capitalise on that momentum to conduct transactions.”
He added that the increase is not limited to prices alone but extends to digital gold trading volumes. ICDX data shows that throughout 2025, total digital gold volume reached approximately 58 million tonnes, rising 25 per cent compared to 2024 which recorded 46.84 million tonnes. Meanwhile, within just the first two months of 2026, through February, transaction volumes had already reached approximately 21 million tonnes.
Based on this trend, ICDX is projecting digital gold transactions for the current year could surge sharply. “We estimate digital gold transaction volumes this year could be double that of last year, around 100 million tonnes,” he said.
The increase in transactions is driven partly by the growing popularity of digital gold among younger generations. Digitalisation makes gold investment increasingly accessible since investors do not need to purchase physical gold and can conduct transactions with small amounts. This phenomenon has led more young people to adopt gold as an investment instrument.
Currently, the composition of young investors in the digital gold market is estimated to have reached more than 50 per cent of total transactions. Beyond ease of access, digital gold is also valued by novice investors because it has a clear underlying asset in the form of physical gold, unlike certain other digital instruments whose asset foundations are frequently questioned.
ICDX has also reported increased activity in multilateral trading of commodity futures contracts for crude oil and gold, utilised by business operators for hedging purposes. Derivative products traded multilaterally include GOFX, which encompasses gold spot and futures contracts, crude oil futures contracts, and mini spot forex contracts.
Throughout 2025, ICDX multilateral transactions in crude oil-based commodity contracts reached 61,260 lots, whilst gold-based commodity contract transactions reached 1,627,698 lots. For crude oil contracts, trading was dominated by COFRMic contracts with a volume of 51,548 lots using West Texas Intermediate (WTI) as the reference price. Gold contracts were dominated by GOLDUDMic products with 682,310 lots transacted.
Tiffani Safinia, Research and Development Analyst at ICDX, noted that several global financial institutions have begun raising their gold price projections entering 2026. The increase in projections is driven by elevated geopolitical risks and structural demand from central banks across various countries.
In the short term, gold price movements remain influenced by dynamics of the US dollar, bond yields, and developments in global conflicts. “Gold is estimated to trade in the range of US$5,500 to US$6,000 per troy ounce by the end of 2026 with volatility expected to remain elevated amid uncertainty in the global economy and geopolitics,” she said.