Ondo CEO says $100B in tokenized assets could be coming this year
Nathan Allman, CEO of Ondo Finance, believes the tokenized real-world asset (RWA) market is on the verge of explosive growth — and traditional finance is finally taking notice.
In a conversation with Scott Melker on TheStreet Roundtable, Allman confirmed Ondo's total value locked (TVL) sits at around $1 billion. That puts it in the same league as tokenized funds from major players like Franklin Templeton and BlackRock. But Allman sees this as just the beginning.
Ondo Finance is a blockchain-based platform focused on tokenizing real-world assets (RWAs) like U.S. Treasuries and corporate bonds. It aims to bridge traditional finance and DeFi by offering institutional-grade investment products on-chain.
'I think there's a decent chance that we get to 50, 75, [or] $100 billion this year as an industry,' he said, referring to the broader RWA sector.
He pointed to stablecoins — which have a current market cap of around $200 billion — as a signal that traditional finance is already paying attention. 'Certainly stablecoins at $200 billion are more than material enough for traditional finance to be paying serious attention to,' Allman added.
The real prize, though, is mainstream adoption of decentralized finance (DeFi) — and not just for crypto speculation.
'We've talked for many years as an industry about how decentralized finance can make trading [and] lending more complicated financial instruments… more cheaply and easily available to retail investors all around the world,' Allman said.
Until now, most DeFi activity has remained stuck in a loop, he noted. It's primarily fueled more speculation on Layer 1 tokens and DeFi infrastructure projects.
But that's changing.
Allman says DeFi is finally reaching a level of maturity — both in terms of infrastructure and its connection to real-world assets — that could help 'modernize the traditional financial system that touches actual equities and everyday lives.'
Looking ahead, he sees DeFi and traditional finance merging into something more universal: 'What will eventually just look like modern finance.'
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