Ethereum DeFi Project Ondo Aims to Take on Robinhood With Jump Into Tokenized Stocks

Ondo Finance has taken a major step toward offering tokenized stocks to U.S. investors, throwing itself into a crowded ring of fintech heavyweights, including Robinhood, that aim to capitalize on the recent on-chain equities market boom. 

The Ethereum decentralized finance platform announced Friday on X its acquisition of Oasis Pro, an SEC-regulated digital assets infrastructure provider that operates as a broker-dealer, alternative trading system, and transfer agent. The deal will allow Ondo Finance to inherit Oasis Pro’s regulatory licenses, enabling it to offer U.S. investors access to tokenized stocks, according to Ondo’s statement.

“This acquisition will empower us to realize our vision of building a robust and accessible tokenized financial system, backed by the strongest regulatory foundations,” Ondo Finance CEO Nathan Allman said Friday in a statement.

The deal deepens Ondo’s exposure to tokenized real-world assets. Earlier this year, Ondo launched its Global Markets platform that allows non-U.S. investors to invest in tokenized stocks, bonds, and exchange-traded funds.

It also will improve the DeFi giant’s efforts to comply with U.S. regulations—a necessary aspect of its bid to expand its operations stateside.

Oasis Pro is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and Options Price Reporting Authority, Ondo noted in its statement. As a member of FINRA’s Crypto Working Group, the infrastructure firm has helped shape the U.S.’ regulatory framework for tokenized assets. 

Ondo Finance’s foray into tokenized stocks comes as several digital asset firms jockey to serve investors’ growing appetites for blockchain-based equities. Robinhood and Kraken have made moves to open up access to tokenized U.S. stocks to E.U. investors over the past few weeks, while Solana-based decentralized exchange Jupiter and DeFi oracle network Chainlink offer support for tokenized shares of Apple, Nvidia, and other major stocks via the xStock platform. The xStock tokenized shares on Solana are available globally, including to U.S. investors.

Tokenized real-world assets are worth $24.79 billion as of publication time, with on-chain stocks accounting for $425.9 million of the market, according to data analytics platform rwa.xyz. Experts project the tokenized assets market will crest $13 trillion by 2030, a report from market research firm Mordor Intelligence shows. 

Ondo’s latest announcement also comes one day after it revealed a deal with crypto venture-capital firm Pantera to earmark $250 million for funding real-world asset tokenization projects. 

Although there is ample competition to offer tokenized stocks to U.S. investors, Ondo Finance believes the transparency of its offering separates it from the pack, an Ondo representative told Decrypt. 

“One simple way to think about it is Robinhood is offering permissioned [or] walled-garden tokenized stocks only available in their app for now. ” the representative said Friday. “Ondo’s [offerings] will be permissionless.”