Deng Tong, Jinse Finance On December 9, 2025, Ondo Finance announced that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's confidential investigation into Ondo had concluded without bringing any charges. "This investigation aimed to examine whether Ondo's tokenization of certain real-world assets complied with federal securities laws, and whether ONDO tokens were securities." I. Original post from Ondo Finance's official blog The United States has taken a significant step towards tokenized securities. Ondo Finance has received formal notification that a long-running, secret investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched during the Biden administration to scrutinize digital asset companies has concluded without any charges being brought. This investigation aims to examine whether Ondo's tokenization of certain real-world assets complies with federal securities laws and whether ONDO tokens are securities. Ondo has fully cooperated with the investigation. Ondo firmly believes that regulated and transparent tokenization models like Ondo's not only meet investor protection principles but also strengthen them. This moment is a significant milestone not only for Ondo, but also for the entire tokenization industry. When the investigation began in 2024, the regulatory environment for digital assets in the United States was cautious, chaotic, and occasionally prone to over-enforcement. It was against this backdrop that Ondo: The first and largest tokenization platform for US Treasury bonds; One of the few companies focused on large-scale tokenization of publicly traded stocks; It quickly gained favor with global investors. Those who start early and achieve success will naturally be scrutinized. Amidst the collapse of cryptocurrency exchanges and the proliferation of speculative tokens in policy discussions, Ondo is leveraging public blockchains to build practical, user-friendly, and regulated financial products. As a result, these innovators, dedicated to developing the safest assets in traditional finance, find themselves embroiled in broader law enforcement actions. Ondo's growth and leading position in the emerging tokenization field have brought us into focus, but they are not a reasonable target of this investigation. As the investigation concludes, we will continue to uphold our consistent principles and remain firmly committed to innovation, compliance, security, and investor protection. A Shift in the Washington Situation: The Path to Tokenized Securities Becomes Clearer This decision also reflects a broader shift in U.S. policy. Regulators are reassessing Biden-era policies on digital assets. Washington has begun to reverse or moderate some of the aggressive measures taken by the previous administration, recognizing that innovation and investor protection are not mutually exclusive. Tokenization is now officially on the agenda of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC's Investor Advisory Committee is assessing how tokenization can revolutionize the issuance, trading, and settlement processes of publicly traded stocks, a stark contrast to the SEC's enforcement-first stance in recent years. The market has already provided the answer: the adoption of tokenization technology is accelerating. Tokenization of US Treasury bonds has become one of the fastest-growing on-chain asset classes, while the recently launched tokenization of stocks is also showing strong growth momentum. The U.S. infrastructure is constantly evolving to support tokenization. Ondo's recent acquisition of Oasis Pro has given it a broker-dealer, alternative trading system (ATS), and transfer agent licenses, giving it a fully regulated business foundation in the U.S. tokenized securities space. The resolution of the SEC investigation marks the end of one chapter and the beginning of another for Ondo. In short, the time is ripe for tokenized securities to become a core component of the US capital markets. The future of global finance, including the US capital markets, will move towards on-chain transactions, and Ondo will lead this transformation. So what's next? On February 3, 2026, we will share the next phase of our roadmap at the Ondo Summit in New York, where we will bring together leading regulators, policymakers, and executives from the traditional financial sector to articulate our vision for a new era of on-chain finance. II. Overview of Ondo's Development Ondo Finance officially launched on July 27, 2021. Founded by Nathan Allman and Pinku Suran, Ondo aims to "accelerate the adoption of DeFi among mainstream investors by enabling sophisticated trading of risk." The protocol officially launched on the same day and offered four vaults at launch. Ondo's goal is to "bring institutional-grade financial products and services to a wider audience" by tokenizing traditional financial assets (such as US Treasury bonds, money market funds, bonds, stocks/ETFs, etc.), allowing ordinary users to access the returns and liquidity of traditional financial assets. Ondo's development trajectory clearly demonstrates its strategic upgrade from DeFi infrastructure to a core player in RWA, and its two major version iterations are a microcosm of the industry's transformation. Ondo V1: Focus on DeFi Infrastructure Ondo V1 was already running on Ethereum when it launched, and it was the first implementation of the protocol, with vaults and Liquidity as a Service (LaaS) as its core products. The following significant developments occurred during the development of this implementation: In November 2021, Ondo partnered with Fei Protocol to launch Liquidity as a Service (LaaS), designed to replace the traditional liquidity mining model. LaaS allows projects to increase the liquidity of their tokens on decentralized exchanges. Projects can deposit their tokens into Ondo's liquidity vault, and Fei will match them with an equivalent value of the FEI stablecoin. Ondo expanded its LaaS service through the following partnerships: In December 2021, Ondo partnered with Frax Finance to expand its LaaS product, with Frax Finance using its FRAX stablecoin to provide liquidity for tokens such as AMP. In May 2022, Ondo partnered with Angle Protocol to expand its LaaS offerings, with Angle Protocol using its agEUR stablecoin to provide liquidity for tokens such as PAL. It is worth noting that Ondo V1 has ceased service, and from March 5, 2024, users can only withdraw funds from it. Ondo V2: Becoming a Core Player of RWA Ondo V2 was officially launched in January 2023, and is the second implementation of this protocol. The following significant developments occurred during the development of this implementation: In January 2023, Ondo announced the launch of three tokens backed by U.S. Treasury bonds and corporate bonds. Although OSTB and OHYG have ceased issuance, the Ondo U.S. Government Bond Fund (OUSG) remains Ondo's most widely circulated token. In January 2023, Ondo announced the launch of Flux Finance (Flux) and initiated the Ondo DAO to manage Flux. In February 2023, Flux officially launched, and the first proposals to use ONDO tokens were approved. In April 2023, Ondo announced the establishment of the Ondo Money Market Fund (OMMF). In August 2023, Ondo announced the launch of Ondo Dollar Yield (USDY). In November 2023, Ondo opened the Ondo Bridge. In January 2024, the Ondo Foundation proposed to lift the "global lock-up" of ONDO tokens. This proposal included official details regarding the allocation, use, and future unlocking plans for ONDO tokens. The adoption of this proposal marked the "public offering" of ONDO tokens. In January 2024, the Ondo Foundation announced the Ondo Points program and launched the “first wave” of the program later that month. In February 2024, Ondo announced its plans for Ondo Global Markets (Ondo GM), a platform that will allow users to access traditional securities on-chain through tokenization. In March 2024, Ondo Finance launched 24/7/365 instant subscription and redemption services for OUSG, and a large portion of OUSG's assets were transferred to BlackRock's BUIDL Treasury Fund. In February 2025, Ondo Global Markets officially launched. The announcement stated that the tokens issued by Ondo GM would be backed 1:1 by the underlying assets. In March 2025, TVL reached $1 billion, thanks to compliance-first customer acquisition, the partnership with BitGo, and smart contracts that comply with US regulations. In June 2025, the team announced the formation of the Global Markets Consortium, which aims to "harmonize industry standards and promote the interoperability of tokenized securities." Members include the Solana Foundation, Bitget Wallet, Jupiter, Trust Wallet, Rainbow Wallet, BitGo, Fireblocks, 1inch, and Alpaca. In October 2025, Ondo submitted a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposing to amend Nasdaq's rules on trading tokenized securities. III. Ondo's Secret: Seizing Every Market Opportunity Looking at the timeline above, from DeFi to RWA, and now to the SEC ending its investigation, Ondo has seized every market opportunity, which may be the secret to its continued popularity. In June 2020, the DeFi Summer erupted, with Compound launching its governance token COMP and initiating a liquidity mining mechanism—users could earn COMP token rewards by lending and borrowing on the Compound platform. This innovative model quickly ignited market enthusiasm and became the core driving force behind the DeFi Summer. However, by the second half of 2021, the unsustainability of liquidity mining became apparent: continuing to mine would lead to token inflation, while halting it would result in a liquidity crunch. Ondo recognized the pain points in the crypto market and launched "Liquidity as a Service": Projects deposit their native tokens into Ondo's dedicated liquidity pools within flexible timeframes, based on their own needs. Ondo then pairs these tokens with equivalent asset pools provided by partner entities such as Frax, Fei, and Angle, creating compliant and balanced liquidity pairs. These paired liquidity pairs are then deployed to designated decentralized exchanges (DEXs) to inject trading liquidity into the project's native tokens, ensuring smooth trading. Upon expiration of the partnership, Ondo withdraws the corresponding liquidity and mining profits from the exchanges. It then returns the assets to the project, pays the pre-agreed fixed interest to the partners, and returns any remaining profits to the project. At this time, Ondo was a DeFi infrastructure provider that solved the unsustainability problem caused by liquidity mining. In 2022, Terra's algorithmic stablecoin UST and its native token LUNA experienced a death spiral collapse, triggering a DeFi trust crisis overnight. Against this backdrop, Ondo turned its attention to the RWA track, which was then truly emerging and entering a phase of rapid development. In 2023, Ondo V2 was launched, with its core product being tokenized U.S. Treasury bonds (OUSG). OUSG's underlying asset is the iShares Short-Term U.S. Treasury ETF from BlackRock, ensuring both security and liquidity, thus giving OUSG a low-risk profile. OUSG can be integrated with DeFi protocols such as Flux Finance that support compliant, licensed assets. After acquiring the tokens, investors can transfer ownership between each other and engage in lending and other financial activities through compliant smart contracts. The launch of OUSG demonstrates the feasibility of tokenizing low-risk traditional financial assets. The SEC, led by Gensler, has frequently targeted the crypto market. Two years ago, the crypto industry experienced a regulatory "winter," and in October 2023, the SEC launched an investigation into Ondo. The SEC's core focus was whether Ondo's tokenization process of its U.S. Treasury products complied with securities regulations, and whether the ONDO token should be considered a security. This investigation lasted for two years. On October 6, 2025, Ondo Finance completed the acquisition of Oasis Pro, an SEC-licensed brokerage firm. This acquisition aimed to help Ondo advance its tokenized securities business within a compliant framework. On December 6, Ondo submitted its tokenized securities roadmap to the SEC, advocating for support for multiple asset ownership models and promoting broader on-chain integration to help the United States maintain its leading position in the asset tokenization transformation. Following its compliance efforts, Ondo has not faced any charges, a significant regulatory boon for the crypto industry. Conclusion From DeFi to RWA, and then to compliant development, Ondo has accurately grasped industry trends and seized every opportunity brought by emerging trends. Now that the SEC investigation has concluded, Ondo is completely free of constraints. Where will Ondo set its sights in the future? Perhaps the New York Summit in February 2026 will provide us with an opportunity to find out.Deng Tong, Jinse Finance On December 9, 2025, Ondo Finance announced that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's confidential investigation into Ondo had concluded without bringing any charges. "This investigation aimed to examine whether Ondo's tokenization of certain real-world assets complied with federal securities laws, and whether ONDO tokens were securities." I. Original post from Ondo Finance's official blog The United States has taken a significant step towards tokenized securities. Ondo Finance has received formal notification that a long-running, secret investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched during the Biden administration to scrutinize digital asset companies has concluded without any charges being brought. This investigation aims to examine whether Ondo's tokenization of certain real-world assets complies with federal securities laws and whether ONDO tokens are securities. Ondo has fully cooperated with the investigation. Ondo firmly believes that regulated and transparent tokenization models like Ondo's not only meet investor protection principles but also strengthen them. This moment is a significant milestone not only for Ondo, but also for the entire tokenization industry. When the investigation began in 2024, the regulatory environment for digital assets in the United States was cautious, chaotic, and occasionally prone to over-enforcement. It was against this backdrop that Ondo: The first and largest tokenization platform for US Treasury bonds; One of the few companies focused on large-scale tokenization of publicly traded stocks; It quickly gained favor with global investors. Those who start early and achieve success will naturally be scrutinized. Amidst the collapse of cryptocurrency exchanges and the proliferation of speculative tokens in policy discussions, Ondo is leveraging public blockchains to build practical, user-friendly, and regulated financial products. As a result, these innovators, dedicated to developing the safest assets in traditional finance, find themselves embroiled in broader law enforcement actions. Ondo's growth and leading position in the emerging tokenization field have brought us into focus, but they are not a reasonable target of this investigation. As the investigation concludes, we will continue to uphold our consistent principles and remain firmly committed to innovation, compliance, security, and investor protection. A Shift in the Washington Situation: The Path to Tokenized Securities Becomes Clearer This decision also reflects a broader shift in U.S. policy. Regulators are reassessing Biden-era policies on digital assets. Washington has begun to reverse or moderate some of the aggressive measures taken by the previous administration, recognizing that innovation and investor protection are not mutually exclusive. Tokenization is now officially on the agenda of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC's Investor Advisory Committee is assessing how tokenization can revolutionize the issuance, trading, and settlement processes of publicly traded stocks, a stark contrast to the SEC's enforcement-first stance in recent years. The market has already provided the answer: the adoption of tokenization technology is accelerating. Tokenization of US Treasury bonds has become one of the fastest-growing on-chain asset classes, while the recently launched tokenization of stocks is also showing strong growth momentum. The U.S. infrastructure is constantly evolving to support tokenization. Ondo's recent acquisition of Oasis Pro has given it a broker-dealer, alternative trading system (ATS), and transfer agent licenses, giving it a fully regulated business foundation in the U.S. tokenized securities space. The resolution of the SEC investigation marks the end of one chapter and the beginning of another for Ondo. In short, the time is ripe for tokenized securities to become a core component of the US capital markets. The future of global finance, including the US capital markets, will move towards on-chain transactions, and Ondo will lead this transformation. So what's next? On February 3, 2026, we will share the next phase of our roadmap at the Ondo Summit in New York, where we will bring together leading regulators, policymakers, and executives from the traditional financial sector to articulate our vision for a new era of on-chain finance. II. Overview of Ondo's Development Ondo Finance officially launched on July 27, 2021. Founded by Nathan Allman and Pinku Suran, Ondo aims to "accelerate the adoption of DeFi among mainstream investors by enabling sophisticated trading of risk." The protocol officially launched on the same day and offered four vaults at launch. Ondo's goal is to "bring institutional-grade financial products and services to a wider audience" by tokenizing traditional financial assets (such as US Treasury bonds, money market funds, bonds, stocks/ETFs, etc.), allowing ordinary users to access the returns and liquidity of traditional financial assets. Ondo's development trajectory clearly demonstrates its strategic upgrade from DeFi infrastructure to a core player in RWA, and its two major version iterations are a microcosm of the industry's transformation. Ondo V1: Focus on DeFi Infrastructure Ondo V1 was already running on Ethereum when it launched, and it was the first implementation of the protocol, with vaults and Liquidity as a Service (LaaS) as its core products. The following significant developments occurred during the development of this implementation: In November 2021, Ondo partnered with Fei Protocol to launch Liquidity as a Service (LaaS), designed to replace the traditional liquidity mining model. LaaS allows projects to increase the liquidity of their tokens on decentralized exchanges. Projects can deposit their tokens into Ondo's liquidity vault, and Fei will match them with an equivalent value of the FEI stablecoin. Ondo expanded its LaaS service through the following partnerships: In December 2021, Ondo partnered with Frax Finance to expand its LaaS product, with Frax Finance using its FRAX stablecoin to provide liquidity for tokens such as AMP. In May 2022, Ondo partnered with Angle Protocol to expand its LaaS offerings, with Angle Protocol using its agEUR stablecoin to provide liquidity for tokens such as PAL. It is worth noting that Ondo V1 has ceased service, and from March 5, 2024, users can only withdraw funds from it. Ondo V2: Becoming a Core Player of RWA Ondo V2 was officially launched in January 2023, and is the second implementation of this protocol. The following significant developments occurred during the development of this implementation: In January 2023, Ondo announced the launch of three tokens backed by U.S. Treasury bonds and corporate bonds. Although OSTB and OHYG have ceased issuance, the Ondo U.S. Government Bond Fund (OUSG) remains Ondo's most widely circulated token. In January 2023, Ondo announced the launch of Flux Finance (Flux) and initiated the Ondo DAO to manage Flux. In February 2023, Flux officially launched, and the first proposals to use ONDO tokens were approved. In April 2023, Ondo announced the establishment of the Ondo Money Market Fund (OMMF). In August 2023, Ondo announced the launch of Ondo Dollar Yield (USDY). In November 2023, Ondo opened the Ondo Bridge. In January 2024, the Ondo Foundation proposed to lift the "global lock-up" of ONDO tokens. This proposal included official details regarding the allocation, use, and future unlocking plans for ONDO tokens. The adoption of this proposal marked the "public offering" of ONDO tokens. In January 2024, the Ondo Foundation announced the Ondo Points program and launched the “first wave” of the program later that month. In February 2024, Ondo announced its plans for Ondo Global Markets (Ondo GM), a platform that will allow users to access traditional securities on-chain through tokenization. In March 2024, Ondo Finance launched 24/7/365 instant subscription and redemption services for OUSG, and a large portion of OUSG's assets were transferred to BlackRock's BUIDL Treasury Fund. In February 2025, Ondo Global Markets officially launched. The announcement stated that the tokens issued by Ondo GM would be backed 1:1 by the underlying assets. In March 2025, TVL reached $1 billion, thanks to compliance-first customer acquisition, the partnership with BitGo, and smart contracts that comply with US regulations. In June 2025, the team announced the formation of the Global Markets Consortium, which aims to "harmonize industry standards and promote the interoperability of tokenized securities." Members include the Solana Foundation, Bitget Wallet, Jupiter, Trust Wallet, Rainbow Wallet, BitGo, Fireblocks, 1inch, and Alpaca. In October 2025, Ondo submitted a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposing to amend Nasdaq's rules on trading tokenized securities. III. Ondo's Secret: Seizing Every Market Opportunity Looking at the timeline above, from DeFi to RWA, and now to the SEC ending its investigation, Ondo has seized every market opportunity, which may be the secret to its continued popularity. In June 2020, the DeFi Summer erupted, with Compound launching its governance token COMP and initiating a liquidity mining mechanism—users could earn COMP token rewards by lending and borrowing on the Compound platform. This innovative model quickly ignited market enthusiasm and became the core driving force behind the DeFi Summer. However, by the second half of 2021, the unsustainability of liquidity mining became apparent: continuing to mine would lead to token inflation, while halting it would result in a liquidity crunch. Ondo recognized the pain points in the crypto market and launched "Liquidity as a Service": Projects deposit their native tokens into Ondo's dedicated liquidity pools within flexible timeframes, based on their own needs. Ondo then pairs these tokens with equivalent asset pools provided by partner entities such as Frax, Fei, and Angle, creating compliant and balanced liquidity pairs. These paired liquidity pairs are then deployed to designated decentralized exchanges (DEXs) to inject trading liquidity into the project's native tokens, ensuring smooth trading. Upon expiration of the partnership, Ondo withdraws the corresponding liquidity and mining profits from the exchanges. It then returns the assets to the project, pays the pre-agreed fixed interest to the partners, and returns any remaining profits to the project. At this time, Ondo was a DeFi infrastructure provider that solved the unsustainability problem caused by liquidity mining. In 2022, Terra's algorithmic stablecoin UST and its native token LUNA experienced a death spiral collapse, triggering a DeFi trust crisis overnight. Against this backdrop, Ondo turned its attention to the RWA track, which was then truly emerging and entering a phase of rapid development. In 2023, Ondo V2 was launched, with its core product being tokenized U.S. Treasury bonds (OUSG). OUSG's underlying asset is the iShares Short-Term U.S. Treasury ETF from BlackRock, ensuring both security and liquidity, thus giving OUSG a low-risk profile. OUSG can be integrated with DeFi protocols such as Flux Finance that support compliant, licensed assets. After acquiring the tokens, investors can transfer ownership between each other and engage in lending and other financial activities through compliant smart contracts. The launch of OUSG demonstrates the feasibility of tokenizing low-risk traditional financial assets. The SEC, led by Gensler, has frequently targeted the crypto market. Two years ago, the crypto industry experienced a regulatory "winter," and in October 2023, the SEC launched an investigation into Ondo. The SEC's core focus was whether Ondo's tokenization process of its U.S. Treasury products complied with securities regulations, and whether the ONDO token should be considered a security. This investigation lasted for two years. On October 6, 2025, Ondo Finance completed the acquisition of Oasis Pro, an SEC-licensed brokerage firm. This acquisition aimed to help Ondo advance its tokenized securities business within a compliant framework. On December 6, Ondo submitted its tokenized securities roadmap to the SEC, advocating for support for multiple asset ownership models and promoting broader on-chain integration to help the United States maintain its leading position in the asset tokenization transformation. Following its compliance efforts, Ondo has not faced any charges, a significant regulatory boon for the crypto industry. Conclusion From DeFi to RWA, and then to compliant development, Ondo has accurately grasped industry trends and seized every opportunity brought by emerging trends. Now that the SEC investigation has concluded, Ondo is completely free of constraints. Where will Ondo set its sights in the future? Perhaps the New York Summit in February 2026 will provide us with an opportunity to find out.