Ondo Finance has officially launched a groundbreaking platform that enables investors to access tokenized versions of U.S. stocks and ETFs through Ethereum. The initiative, named Ondo Global Markets, went live recently, offering over 100 equities and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to qualified investors located outside the United States. The company has ambitious plans to expand this selection to more than 1,000 assets by the end of the year.
The platform is designed to facilitate investment opportunities for individuals in regions including the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Africa, and Latin America, allowing them to invest in well-known companies such as Apple and Tesla, along with sought-after ETFs from major financial institutions like Fidelity and BlackRock.
A significant development accompanying this launch is the integration of Ondo’s tokenized assets into Trust Wallet, which boasts over 200 million users worldwide. This integration streamlines retail access to equities, eliminating the traditional requirement for brokerage accounts. Users can now hold and swap these tokenized stocks directly within their wallets, with liquidity being supported through the 1inch Swap API.
Initially, trading on the platform will be confined to U.S. market hours, although peer-to-peer transfers can be conducted on-chain at any time. Notably, residents of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Economic Area (EEA) are currently unable to participate in these offerings. Importantly, the tokenized assets do not confer ownership of the underlying resources.
Ondo Global Markets prioritizes liquidity and interoperability by integrating various technological infrastructures. Pricing data will be made available through Chainlink oracles, and LayerZero will facilitate cross-chain transfers, with intentions to include support for BNB Chain and Solana in the future.
Bryan Pellegrino, CEO of LayerZero, underscored the evolution of financial assets, asserting that the tokenization of every financial instrument is inevitable. He praised Ondo for taking the initial steps in this transformative process, highlighting its compelling offerings and pipeline of significant publicly listed equities.
Additionally, select tokenized assets are set to be utilized as collateral within Morpho lending vaults. The platform’s liquidity will be enhanced through a strategic partnership with Block Street, a startup supported by Citadel, Point72, and Jane Street, focused on creating institutional-grade infrastructure for lending, shorting, and hedging tokenized securities.
This launch comes on the heels of a broader trend toward tokenization within the financial industry. Companies such as Kraken have recently expanded their xStocks platform to Ethereum, while Robinhood has introduced tokenized equities on Arbitrum for European customers. Coinbase has also expressed interest in pursuing regulatory approval for similar tokenized offering initiatives.
As this story continues to develop, it highlights the growing momentum behind the integration of blockchain technologies in traditional financial markets.
