Ondo Finance puts BlackRock ETF onchain under SEC-backed model

Ondo Finance has completed the first live onchain deployment of third-party tokenized U.S. securities under a structure designed to operate within the existing U.S. regulatory framework.

According to Ondo Finance, the deployment brings shares of BlackRock’s iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) and Micron Technology (MU) onto the Ethereum blockchain while keeping the underlying securities inside the traditional U.S. custody system.

The company said the rollout coincides with July 4, when the United States celebrates 250 years of independence, and represents its first live implementation of this issuance model.

SEC-aligned structure keeps traditional custody intact

Unlike many tokenized stock offerings launched outside the United States, Ondo said its model follows the third-party custodial framework outlined in a January 2025 staff statement from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Under that structure, the underlying IVV and Micron shares remain with regulated custodians instead of moving onto a blockchain.

Ondo said its registered transfer agent, Oasis Pro, issues Ethereum-based tokens backed 1:1 by the underlying shares. Financial infrastructure company Broadridge manages shareholder communications, proxy voting, and regulatory disclosures, allowing token holders to receive the same shareholder rights as investors holding the securities through traditional U.S. brokerage accounts.

Discussing the rollout, Ondo Finance CEO Ian De Bode said the milestone demonstrates the company’s approach to issuing tokenized securities within existing U.S. regulatory requirements.

“Ondo has built the regulatory, product, and service infrastructure to support all major models within the United States. Today’s milestone shows we can tokenize securities in ways that satisfy both market and regulatory requirements.”

The company noted that the product is not yet available to U.S. investors and is currently intended for eligible international users outside the country.

Tokenized securities race gathers momentum

The launch comes as regulated tokenized securities continue to attract investment across financial markets. As previously reported by crypto.news, Ondo Finance recently partnered with Exodus Movement to introduce Exodus Markets, enabling eligible users in selected jurisdictions to trade more than 200 tokenized stocks, exchange-traded funds, and real-world assets through the Exodus self-custodial wallet on the Solana blockchain.

Competition in the sector has also intensified following Securitize’s public listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SECZ after its SPAC merger with Cantor Equity Partners II. Backed by BlackRock and Morgan Stanley, the company became the first publicly traded tokenization platform.

Questions over shareholder rights have remained a major issue for tokenized equities. The debate intensified in mid-2025 after OpenAI stated that it had not authorized Robinhood’s tokenized product linked to its shares and clarified that the tokens did not represent equity ownership in the company. The incident increased calls for clearer regulatory standards governing tokenized securities.

Ondo said its issuance framework addresses those concerns by routing token creation through a registered transfer agent while preserving the conventional custody chain, a structure the company believes aligns with existing U.S. market requirements.

Industry forecasts also point to continued expansion. In its June 2026 report, Citi projected the tokenized securities market could reach about $5.5 trillion by 2030. At the same time, Robinhood has introduced a public blockchain for tokenized stocks, the DTCC has expanded its blockchain infrastructure, and both the NYSE and Nasdaq have disclosed tokenization initiatives.

Ondo said it already manages more than $1 billion in tokenized stocks and ETFs covering over 430 securities outside the U.S. Separately, Ripple recently unveiled a lending protocol on the XRP Ledger that allows banks to borrow against tokenized assets, adding another example of financial institutions building infrastructure around tokenized real-world assets.