The Challenge
Gold has been one of the most trusted stores of value for centuries, but investing in it has always been complicated. High entry minimums, custody concerns, storage logistics, and low liquidity have kept it out of reach for most retail investors. XAUT, the gold-backed token by Tether, solved the underlying infrastructure problem, but the user experience still demanded expertise that most people do not have.
Aura’s goal was simple: make gold savings feel like a modern fintech app, not a crypto product.
Our Approach
SpaceDev started with a product discovery phase to map user flows, define the feature roadmap, and establish the architecture before writing production code. The team of one full-stack developer, one mobile developer, and one designer built the full product in parallel over 5.5 months.
The mobile app was built with React Native for iOS and Android, with a deliberate focus on simplicity: no wallet addresses exposed to the user, no blockchain jargon, no friction. Behind the scenes, XAUT handles the gold backing while the NestJS backend and PostgreSQL database manage user accounts, orders, portfolio state, and recurring purchase logic.
Real-time gold price feeds power the portfolio dashboard and order execution, giving users live visibility into the value of their savings. A physical redemption flow was also built for users who want to convert their XAUT position into physical gold.
Results
Aura went from product discovery to a live, production-ready mobile application in 5.5 months. The product delivers on its core promise: anyone can start saving in gold from small amounts, with immediate liquidity and zero custody complexity. The Web3 infrastructure runs invisibly in the background, while the user experience remains firmly in the familiar world of modern consumer finance.
