Ondo Finance tokenized securities have hit some historic milestones, marking a new beginning. On July 4 , when America would be celebrating 250 years of independence, Ondo Finance is set to do the first-ever live deployment of third-party tokenized U.S. securities, and it’s running entirely inside the existing U.S. regulatory perimeter. So this move pulled in BlackRock’s iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) and Micron Technology (MU) shares onto the chain for the first time.
What Makes Ondo’s Tokenization Model Different From Prior Attempts?
Up until now, tokenized securities have mostly been kept offshore. Ondo does it differently and basically follows the SEC’s third party custodial model, which is a framework the regulator talked about in a January 2025 staff statement. With this kind of setup, the underlying IVV and Micron shares never leave the usual U.S. custody chain.
Ondo’s registered transfer agent, Oasis Pro, mints the tokens on Ethereum, and they are backed 1:1 by the real shares. Regulated custodians then hold the underlying securities.
Financial infrastructure firm Broadridge handles proxy voting, issuer communications, and regulatory disclosures. Basically every single token holder ends up with the same shareholder rights as someone holding through a traditional U.S. brokerage account.
“Ondo has built the regulatory, product, and service infrastructure to support all major models within the United States,” said Ian De Bode, CEO of Ondo Finance. “Today’s milestone shows we can tokenize securities in ways that satisfy both market and regulatory requirements.”
It’s worth noting that the product is not yet available to U.S. investors. The launch currently aims at global investors outside the U.S., and this is happening as the tokenization space heats up broadly. Securitize makes its NYSE debut under the ticker SECZ, backed by BlackRock and Morgan Stanley, this week after its SPAC merger with Cantor Equity Partners II. This move makes it the first publicly listed tokenization platform.
Why the Tokenized Securities Debate Has Been Years in the Making
There is lots of controversy regarding whether third-party tokenized stocks have real shareholder rights. This uncertainty grabbed mainstream attention mid-2025, when OpenAI said publicly that it had not authorized Robinhood’s tokenized offering tied to its shares. It also disclosed that those tokens do not represent ownership or any equity in the company. That controversy accelerated pressure on regulators to clarify the rules.
Ondo’s launch is basically a direct reply addressing the issue on ground. By routing issuance through a registered transfer agent , and by keeping the custody chain intact, Ondo Finance is positioning its tokenized securities legally defensible in U.S. markets.
Citi projected in a June 2026 report that the tokenized securities market could reach about $5.5 trillion by 2030. Robinhood has launched a public blockchain for tokenized stocks, while DTCC has expanded its blockchain infrastructure. Also, NYSE and Nasdaq have mentioned their own tokenization efforts as well. In the meantime, Ondo is already managing more than $1 billion in tokenized stocks and ETFs across 430+ securities outside the U.S.
At the same time the wider tokenization infrastructure seems to be maturing on several fronts. Ripple’s New XRP Lending Protocol for banks, announced just days earlier, allows financial institutions to borrow against tokenized assets on the XRP Ledger. That basically points to the same institutional push Ondo is now going after, but from within U.S. regulatory rails.
