The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has officially dropped its investigation into the New York-based tokenization platform Ondo Finance, which was initiated in 2023. Ondo Finance received formal notice that a confidential, multi-year SEC investigation into the platform has been closed without any charges, the company announced on Monday.
The probe examined whether Ondo’s tokenization of certain real-world assets complied with federal securities laws, as well as whether the ONDO token was a security. The SEC’s decision to end the investigation reflects a broader shift in US policy regarding real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, bringing it onto the authority’s formal agenda, Ondo noted.
A New Chapter for Tokenization in the US
According to a report by Crypto in America, the SEC initially opened the probe in October 2023 under former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who was known for his stringent stance toward the crypto industry. However, since Paul Atkins took over as SEC chair, the agency has closed a number of crypto-related cases involving major companies, including Coinbase, Ripple, and Kraken.
“When the inquiry began in 2024, the US regulatory environment for digital assets was defined by caution, confusion, and occasionally overbroad enforcement actions,” Ondo Finance stated in its blog post. Against that backdrop, Ondo was “one of the only firms focused on tokenizing publicly listed equities at scale,” adding that “being early, and being successful, came with scrutiny.”
According to Ondo, the resolution of the SEC inquiry marks the end of one chapter for Ondo and the beginning of another, where tokenized securities become a “core part of the US capital markets.” The company stated, “The future of global finance, including U.S. capital markets, will be onchain and Ondo will help lead that transition.”
US Tokenization Platforms Primarily Serve Overseas Markets
This news comes as most tokenization platforms offer tokenized equity products primarily to customers outside the US, including firms such as Kraken-owned Backed, the issuer of xStocks. While these platforms tokenize major US-listed stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), many of the offerings are aimed at clients located overseas, particularly in Europe.
Alchemy Pay chief marketing officer Ailona Tsik told Cointelegraph in June, “The reality is that users in the US already have relatively seamless access to traditional equities such as stocks and ETFs through well-established brokerage platforms.” Following the SEC probe’s resolution, it remains to be seen whether RWA platforms like Ondo will begin offering services to US-based clients.
The news emerged shortly after Ondo Global Markets received regulatory approval to offer tokenized stocks to European investors in November. Securitize, a rival US tokenization platform, also obtained regulatory approval to operate as both an Investment Firm and a Trading & Settlement System (TSS) in the EU on November 26. According to the company, this approval positioned it as one of the first operators for regulated digital securities infrastructure in both the US and the EU.