The Defi Protocol Ondo Finance and Venture Firm Pantera Capital plans to increase investment in real-world assets (RWAS) and emphasizes increasing the industry’s focus on symbolising amid the preferred regulatory development in the US.
The companies have informed Axios that they plan to invest $250 million in RWAS through a new fund called Ondo Catalyst. Ondo’s Chief Strategy Officer, Ian de Bode, says the funds will be invested in securing interests and tokens in emerging projects.
In the tokenization market, “We’re now looking at a bit of a weapons race,” DeBode told Axios, referring to the surge in companies entering the space. Exchanges in particular focus on providing tokenized stocks and Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs).
As Cointelegraph recently reported, digital broker Robinhood has launched a new Layer 2 blockchain to enable European clients to trade ETFs with tokenized US stocks.
In May, Kraken announced plans to offer US stock trading, symbolized to non-US investors.
Meanwhile, Crypto Exchange Coinbase is reportedly pursuing regulatory approval to provide tokenized stock.
Ondo Finance is stepping up its push to Onchain Finance and recently announced the formation of a global market alliance with several crypto companies to drive the adoption of blockchain-based capital markets. On Thursday, the company announced that OKX Wallet had joined the alliance.
Earlier this year, the company launched Ondo Global Markets to bring traditional financial markets to blockchain.
In particular, Ondo is reportedly supported by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, and is supporting efforts to build a new crypto-friendly bank.
Related: ChainLink, JPMorgan, Ondo Finance Comply Crosschain Treasury Settlement
The tokenized RWA market is gaining momentum
Efforts to build a new tokenized economy are supported at multiple levels of industry and government, with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins pledged to create a pathway for tokenized innovation.
Following a regulatory era marked by “enforcement regulations,” Atkins’ SEC is currently focusing on “how to advance market innovation,” he told CNBC earlier this week.
A recent industry report co-authored by Redstone, Gauntlet and RWA.xyz found that the tokenized RWA market has grown by up to 380% since 2022, reaching $24 billion as of June. In particular, this figure excludes Stablecoins and is collectively referred to as over $250 billion.
The Redstone report found private credit and US government debt are the main growth factors for RWAS.
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