- Ondo Finance bought broker-dealer Oasis Pro, gaining SEC and FINRA licenses to issue and trade tokenised securities fully within US regulations.
- The deal boosts Ondo’s position in the booming real-world assets space as it eyes domestic institutions and partners with Pantera on a US$250M fund for RWA startups.
- With Oasis Pro, Ondo now has a complete legal stack to bring traditional finance on-chain, aiming to bridge DeFi and RWAs without dodging compliance.
Ondo Finance has acquired Oasis Pro, a popular broker-dealer, adding fresh muscle to its plan to put traditional securities on-chain.
Oasis Pro holds SEC registrations as a broker-dealer, an Alternative Trading System, and a Transfer Agent. This full legal package gives Ondo the cover to handle tokenised securities in full compliance with U.S. rules. The company also sits on FINRA’s Crypto Working Group, putting it close to the front line of how tokenisation rules are shaped.
The takeover lands as interest in real world assets (RWAs) ramps up across crypto and traditional finance. Early experiments with tokenised US stocks and ETFs have mostly targeted foreign buyers.
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Other tokenisation projects involving real estate are more developed in other continents, most recently the Middle East. One popular example is Ripple’s XRP Ledger (XRPL), the official blockchain for Dubai’s real estate tokenisation project.
Things are not as simple in the US, hence why the regulated rails inside the US could open a path for domestic institutions to move in at scale.
The Tokenisation Race
All in all, it looks like Ondo is playing its cards well. Recently, the Ethereum-based protocol announced a US$250M (AU$381M) push with Pantera Capital. The joint fund, Ondo Catalyst, will funnel capital into startups building RWA products both through direct equity stakes and token allocations.
Ian de Bode, Ondo’s chief strategy officer, told Axios there’s an “arms race unfolding” because exchanges and issuers are crowding into ETF deals and tokenised stocks as the next competitive battleground.
With Oasis Pro folded in, Ondo now controls a completely regulated stack to issue, trade, and manage tokenised assets under US law, a move that could set the tone for how DeFi firms plug real-world finance into blockchains without skirting the system they want to disrupt. At least, that’s the plan for now, but only time will tell.
Related: SIFMA Calls on SEC to Shut Door on Tokenised Equities Without Public Review
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