Ondo Finance and Pantera Capital are committing $250 million to invest in real-world asset projects, deepening their efforts to bring traditional financial markets onto the blockchain. In an exclusive shared with Axios on July 3, Ondo’s ( ONDO ) chief strategy officer Ian De Bode said the capital will be deployed through a new initiative called Ondo Catalyst. The new venture will acquire equity and token positions in emerging RWA projects. The investment, a joint effort between Ondo Finance and crypto venture firm Pantera Capital, comes as tokenized securities gain traction among institutions and exchanges. De Bode described the RWA tokenization space as an “arms race” driven by demand for 24/7 market access and more efficient capital infrastructure. You might also like: ONDO price tests key resistance after bouncing off yearly low The $250 million Catalyst Fund will target startups tokenizing traditional financial instruments, ranging from bonds and stocks to private equity and real estate. This comes just days after Robinhood launched tokenized shares of firms like OpenAI and SpaceX for EU users, a move that drew attention but also criticism , since the offerings were based on synthetic derivatives, not actual shares. The announcement builds on a year of expansion for Ondo. In early 2025, the firm launched Ondo Global Markets, a platform that gives crypto wallets and apps access to tokenized U.S. stocks, bonds, and exchange-traded funds. That platform is supported by the Global Markets Alliance, a group announced on June 17 that includes Solana Foundation, Fireblocks, BitGo, Trust Wallet, 1inch, and others. Together, they are working to standardize tokenized securities and improve access to U.S. markets around the clock. Ondo has also been extending its tokenized Treasury products across multiple blockchains. On June 11, it launched OUSG, a token backed by BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, on the XRP ( XRP ) Ledger. The integration allows minting and redemption 24/7 using Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin. OUSG and its sister token USDY now have a combined market cap of roughly $1.4 billion, according to data from rwa.xyz. Ondo is also in active talks with U.S. regulators to help shape policy around tokenized assets. With support from investors like Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, the platform is betting that the next stage of capital markets will be on-chain. Read more: JPMorgan’s Kinexys tests carbon credit tokenization
