Ondo Finance Introduces Securitized American Shares on the Ethereum Network
Ondo Finance, a blockchain protocol focused on tokenizing real-world assets, has announced the launch of its new platform, Ondo Global Markets. This innovative platform aims to provide 24/7 exposure to U.S. equities for qualified investors in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Africa, and Latin America.
Ondo Global Markets is built on the Ethereum blockchain and will initially offer over 100 tokenized U.S. stocks and Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs). These tokenized assets mirror the economic performance of their underlying assets, including price movements, dividends, and corporate actions. Notably, the tokenized versions of shares on Ondo Global Markets are backed by the underlying U.S. securities, held at registered broker-dealers.
Ondo Finance has chosen to start with U.S. public equities because they are the most in-demand, liquid markets in the world. The platform is already available on three other blockchain networks - Solana, BNB Chain, and Tron. Support for BNB Chain and Solana on Ondo Global Markets is coming soon, though no specific timeframe was given.
At launch, Ondo Global Markets will focus on liquid stocks like Apple and Tesla, along with popular ETFs from Fidelity and BlackRock. Over time, Ondo plans to add bonds, international equities, and other publicly traded instruments to the platform.
Ondo Global Markets integrates with crypto wallets, exchanges, and its website protocols using Chainlink oracles for pricing data and LayerZero for cross-chain interoperability. The platform also integrates leading cryptocurrency wallets and exchange platforms such as Bitget Wallet, Trust Wallet, OKX Wallet, Gate, and infrastructure providers including Chainlink, Blockchain.com, MEXC, and LBank to support the Ondo Global Markets platform.
Customer due diligence is required to mint, redeem, and transfer tokenized shares on Ondo Global Markets. It's important to note that the tokens on Ondo Global Markets do not provide their holders with rights to hold or receive their respective underlying assets.
In related news, crypto exchange Kraken announced earlier this week that it is partnering with Backed to expand its tokenized stock product, xStocks, to Ethereum. This move is expected to further increase the demand for tokenized assets in the global market.
The press release about Ondo Global Markets was viewed by The Defiant, a leading news platform covering the decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT) industries. Additionally, lending protocol Morpho will support select tokenized assets as collateral on a dedicated vault managed by Gauntlet.
As Ondo Global Markets continues to grow and expand, it will be interesting to see how this new platform impacts the tokenized assets market and provides opportunities for global investors.
