Ondo, Pantera Capital to Invest $250M in Real-World Asset Projects

Tokenization platform Ondo Finance ONDO and digital asset investment firm Pantera Capital have teamed up to invest $250 million in real-world asset (RWA) projects as the red-hot tokenization trend is accelerating.

The initiative, named Ondo Catalyst, aims to invest in protocols and infrastructure projects that enhance the development of tokenized finance and on-chain capital markets, according to a Thursday blog post by Ondo.

The initiative will do a mix of equity and token investments, a representative of Ondo told CoinDesk in a Telegram message.

"The financial system is undergoing a fundamental upgrade," Nathan Allman, founder and CEO of Ondo Finance, said in the blog post. "By supporting the infrastructure and applications that unlock real-world utility for tokenized assets, we're helping reshape how capital moves around the world."

Tokenization is one of the fastest-growing crypto use cases and has captivated big banks, fintechs, asset managers and crypto native firms alike. The process aims to bring traditional financial instruments such as bonds, stocks and real estate, often dubbed RWAs, onto blockchain rails, promising more efficient operations, faster and around-the-clock settlements, broader investor access and programmable transactions. For example, Robinhood, Bybit, Kraken and Gemini have recently introduced trading with tokenized versions of U.S. stocks, while BlackRock and Franklin Templeton issue tokenized money market funds backed by short-term U.S. Treasuries.

Ondo is one of the largest tokenized U.S. Treasury issuers, with its OUSG and USDY tokens having a combined market capitalization of nearly $1.4 billion, data by RWA.xyz shows. The firm is also developing a layer-1 blockchain network designed for tokenized RWAs.

The news of the partnership was first reported by Axios.

Read more: Real-World Asset Tokenization Market Has Grown Almost Fivefold in 3 Years