Ondo Finance: Bringing Wall Street Assets Onchain

• Ondo holds over 60% of the entire tokenised equity market, a sector worth AUD $1.5 billion (USD $941 million)
• Tokenised assets on Ondo crossed approximately AUD $4.6 billion (USD $3 billion) by early April 2026
• EU regulatory approval now gives Ondo access to retail customers across 30 European markets
• The SEC closed a two-year investigation into Ondo without charges, with the closure publicly disclosed by Ondo in late 2025
• The Ondo DAO may consider future governance votes on protocol revenue distribution, though no confirmed fee-switch vote with specific revenue figures has been announced

What is Ondo Finance?

Most people may think of crypto as speculative tokens and volatile prices. Ondo Finance is trying to do something different. It takes conventional financial assets, things like U.S. Treasury bills and publicly listed stocks, and converts them into digital tokens that live on a blockchain. The result is a product that earns traditional financial returns but can be moved 24/7, settled instantly, and plugged into decentralised finance (DeFi) applications.

Ondo was founded by Nathan Allman, who previously worked on the Digital Assets team at Goldman Sachs. The protocol launched its first products in 2023 and has grown steadily since. The ONDO token functions as a governance token, meaning holders can vote on protocol decisions through the Ondo DAO, a decentralised organisation that steers upgrades and parameters.

The category Ondo operates in is real-world assets (RWAs). RWAs are traditional financial assets that have been tokenised, meaning a blockchain token is issued that represents legal ownership of the underlying asset. The asset itself is held by a regulated custodian in the traditional financial system. The token is what moves onchain.

"Financial markets are overdue for an upgrade. We're creating an ecosystem that bridges the best of traditional finance with blockchain technology."
Nathan Allman, Founder and CEO, Ondo Finance. 7 February 2025

The Tokenisation Engine

Ondo's process starts with a user depositing cash or stablecoins. The protocol uses those funds to purchase real-world assets such as U.S. Treasury bills or equities. A regulated custodian holds those assets. In return, the user receives a digital token representing their share of the underlying pool.

The flagship fixed-income product, OUSG, gives holders exposure to short-term U.S. government debt. On the equity side, Ondo Global Markets lets users access tokenised versions of more than 250 U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Each token is backed one-to-one by real securities held with U.S.-registered broker-dealers, and because they exist onchain, they can be transferred or used in DeFi protocols at any time, not just during Stock Exchange hours.

Total assets under Ondo's management have crossed over $4.5 billion (USD $3 billion). The tokenised equities product alone is almost $1.3 billion (USD $800 million) in total value locked (TVL), putting Ondo at over 60% market share in a tokenised equity sector worth roughly AUD $1.5 billion (USD $941 million) in total.

Total asset value on ondo (source)

Regulatory Wins and Global Expansion

Regulation has been the defining challenge for tokenised securities, and Ondo has moved aggressively to address it. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) formally closed an investigation into the project without filing charges in late November 2024, with Ondo publicly disclosing the closure in late 2025. Around the same time, Ondo acquired Oasis Pro, bringing SEC-registered broker-dealer licenses into the organisation.

The European expansion adds another dimension. Ondo secured EU passporting rights in late 2025, a regulatory approval that allows it to offer retail tokenised products across 30 European Economic Area markets. Passporting rights are notoriously difficult to obtain and grant access to hundreds of millions of potential users, so this is a substantial expansion of the addressable customer base.

Opportunities and Risks

The opportunity in tokenised RWAs is large, with the sector expanding rapidly to over $45 billion (USD $30 billion) currently and widely expected to grow significantly over the coming years. Ondo's regulatory groundwork, institutional partnerships, and early market share position it to capture a meaningful slice of that growth.

Total RWA marketcap over time (source)

The Ondo DAO can vote on how protocol economics work, including potential decisions on fee distribution or token buybacks. No confirmed governance vote with specific revenue figures has been announced at the time of writing, but how the DAO chooses to direct protocol revenue in the future will be a key factor to watch.

As always, there are risks with such new technology. Smart contract risk is always present in any DeFi protocol, where a bug in the code can result in loss of funds, regardless of the quality of the underlying assets. The tokenised securities space also remains in regulatory flux across many jurisdictions, meaning product availability and eligible user categories could shift as rules develop. And while the SEC investigation has closed, operating where traditional finance and crypto overlap means Ondo will continue to face scrutiny from multiple regulators simultaneously.

Summary

Ondo Finance has built infrastructure in a category that most crypto projects have only talked about. Tokenising U.S. stocks and Treasury bills, securing regulatory approval across dozens of markets, and forming institutional partnerships takes years of work. Ondo now holds a significant position in tokenised equities and is expanding in regions where demand for onchain access to U.S. markets is growing.