Exchange-traded fund issuer 21Shares has filed with US regulators for a product tracking the spot price of Ondo, the native token of the decentralized finance protocol Ondo Finance.
21Shares submitted a preliminary prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the “21Shares Ondo Trust” on Tuesday, which aims to directly hold Ondo (ONDO) tokens and track performance via the CME CF Ondo Finance-Dollar Reference Rate. Coinbase will provide custody of the tokens.
It will be a passive investment vehicle with no speculation or leverage. Authorized participants can create or redeem shares in cash or in-kind.
ONDO is the native utility token of Ondo Chain, a layer-1 proof-of-stake blockchain with a focus on institutional-grade financial markets and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs).
Ondo has a market capitalization of $3.5 billion and a circulating supply of 3.1 billion out of a total of 10 billion tokens. It is currently priced at $1.12, which is down 48% from its December all-time high of $2.14, according to CoinGecko.
ONDO tied up with the Trumps
The Trump family’s DeFi platform, World Liberty Financial, has been a backer of Ondo Finance, having added the platform’s token to its holdings.
In December, World Liberty Financial purchased $250,000 worth of ONDO, and it currently holds 342,000 tokens worth around $383,000, according to Nansen.
However, the Trump DeFi platform’s ONDO holdings comprise just 0.2% of the total $208 million portfolio, which is predominantly stablecoins and wrapped Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC).
Focus on institutional RWA tokenization
Earlier this month, Ondo Finance acquired the SEC-registered broker-dealer Oasis Pro with aims to launch tokenized securities in partnership with Pantera Capital.
Related: $250M Ondo Catalyst fund signals ‘arms race’ for RWA tokenization
Oasis Pro is registered with the SEC as an Alternative Trading System and transfer agent, meaning it’s a registered non-exchange trading venue and can manage ownership of securities. It has also been a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority since 2020.
Ondo Chain, the platform’s institution-focused layer-1 blockchain for Wall Street firms to tokenize RWAs, was announced in February.
RWA onchain value surges
Tokenized real world asset value onchain has skyrocketed this year, surging 58% to almost $25 billion, according to RWA.xyz.
The lion’s share of those assets, which are primarily private credit and US Treasurys, is tokenized on Ethereum, which has a 55% market share.
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