Ondo Finance has launched Ondo Global Markets, providing non-US investors with 24/7 access to over 100 tokenized US stocks and ETFs on the Ethereum blockchain. This initiative aims to broaden global participation in US equities and marks a significant step in the tokenization of real-world assets.

U.S. equities markets are experiencing an evolution in accessibility as Ondo Finance officially launched Ondo Global Markets, a new platform offering over 100 tokenized U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to qualified non-U.S. investors. This development, leveraging the Ethereum blockchain, is designed to dismantle traditional barriers to entry, providing 24/7 trading capabilities for assets including major technology firms like Apple (AAPL) and Nvidia (NVDA), alongside the widely recognized QQQ ETF.

The Event in Detail

The Ondo Global Markets platform facilitates the minting and redemption of these tokenized assets around the clock, five days a week. The underlying securities are held at U.S.-registered broker-dealers, ensuring backing by traditional assets and cash in transit. While the platform is specifically designed for eligible investors across the Asia-Pacific, European, African, and Latin American regions, it explicitly excludes U.S. and UK retail and institutional participants. Ondo Finance plans to aggressively expand its offerings, aiming to include over 1,000 U.S. equities and ETFs by 2025. The initiative will also extend blockchain support to BNB Chain and Solana, with interoperability powered by LayerZero. Critical to the platform's functionality are partnerships with entities such as Trust Wallet, BitGo, Ledger, and Chainlink, which serves as the oracle platform for trusted real-time asset price data.

Analysis of Market Reaction

This launch represents a strategic move to bridge traditional finance with decentralized finance (DeFi), a concept Ondo Finance terms "Wall Street 2.0." By offering direct ownership of digital representations of real-world assets (RWAs), the platform seeks to redefine market access and liquidity. Historically, non-U.S. investors have faced significant hurdles, including high fees, limited access, transfer frictions, and fragmented platforms, preventing broader participation in the approximately $64 trillion U.S. securities markets. Ondo's approach aims to mitigate these issues by enabling peer-to-peer transferability across various wallets, exchanges, and protocols, while maintaining seamless onchain access to traditional exchange liquidity.

Broader Context and Implications

The initiative by Ondo Finance is part of a growing trend in the tokenization of real-world assets, a sector projected for substantial growth. The RWA market, estimated to be around $26.59 billion as of August 2025, is forecast to reach $24 billion by 2025 and could potentially expand to nearly $19 trillion by 2033. Beyond equities, Ondo Finance has already made significant strides in tokenizing U.S. Treasury bonds, with over $1.390 billion registered on its blockchain, contributing to a broader market of tokenized U.S. Treasury bonds that has surpassed $7 billion.

The market has shown a measured positive reaction to the underlying ONDO token, which governs the Ondo DAO and Flux Finance protocol. Following the launch of Ondo Global Markets, the ONDO token price rose to $0.97 as of September 3, 2025, marking a 2.57% increase over the preceding month and over 2% in the past week. Trading volume for the token also surged by 40%. Analysts have suggested potential short-term price targets for ONDO between $1.81 and $2.19, with an average forecast around $2.07.

Major traditional financial institutions are also exploring similar integrations. Nasdaq has submitted a proposal to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to facilitate the trading of tokenized securities within its existing infrastructure, indicating a broader industry shift towards integrating blockchain technology into mainstream finance.

Expert Commentary

Nathan Allman, Founder and CEO of Ondo Finance, emphasized the transformative potential of this initiative:

"Global investors can now access the largest selection of transferable tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs onchain. We saw stablecoins export the U.S. dollar by bringing it onchain. Now, Ondo Global Markets is doing the same thing for U.S. securities."

Looking Ahead

The expansion of tokenized U.S. equities through platforms like Ondo Global Markets underscores a fundamental restructuring of how assets are owned, traded, and managed. While the venture promises increased liquidity and accessibility, it also highlights ongoing discussions regarding regulatory oversight and investor protection in the nascent tokenized asset space. Jurisdictions globally are grappling with adapting existing laws or creating new frameworks for digital assets, with the U.S. regulatory environment remaining a complex landscape. The success of Ondo Global Markets and similar initiatives will likely depend on continued technological innovation, robust security measures, and the development of clear, internationally harmonized regulatory frameworks that foster market confidence while protecting investors. The ongoing evolution of this sector suggests that tokenized assets are poised to become an increasingly integral component of global investment strategies, potentially democratizing access to a wider range of asset classes in the future.