Ondo and Pantera Launch New $250M RWA Fund amid Tokenization Surge

DeFi protocol Ondo Finance and venture capital firm Pantera Capital announced plans to launch the $250 million Ondo Catalyst Fund, dedicated to investing in real-world assets (RWAs) and tokenization projects.

Ondo Catalyst Fund Targets Equity and Token Investments

Both firms stated their intention to deploy capital through the Ondo Catalyst fund to acquire equity stakes and tokens in emerging RWA tokenization projects.

Ondo’s Chief Strategy Officer, Ian De Bode, noted, “We are seeing a bit of an arms race in the tokenization market right now,” citing the rapid increase in companies entering the space, particularly exchanges focusing on tokenized securities and ETFs.

Industry Players Diversify into Tokenized Assets

The push towards tokenizable RWAs is mirrored by major exchanges: Robinhood launched infrastructure for European tokenized US stock trading; Kraken intends to offer tokenized US stock trading to international investors; and Coinbase is actively seeking regulatory approval for US tokenized equities.

Ondo Deepens Blockchain Finance Push

The article mentions Ondo’s ongoing expansion into on-chain finance, including its Global Markets Alliance collaboration with crypto firms like OKX Wallet.

Ondo recently launched Ondo Global Markets to integrate traditional finance onto the blockchain.

Backers Fuel Crypto-Friendly Innovation

Ondo Finance has backing from Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, reportedly supporting efforts to establish a new crypto-friendly financial institution.

Market Growth Recognized

A recent RedStone report co-authored by RedStone, Gauntlet, and RWA.xyz found the tokenized RWA market has expanded significantly, growing by an estimate of 380% since 2022 to reach $24 billion.

Source: RedStone / Gauntlet / RWA.xyz*

Regulatory Landscape Shifts

The reported growth is occurring alongside a positive regulatory movement. SEC Chair Gary Gensler (not Paul Atkins, as mentioned in the original article, whose statement regarding innovation pathways might be recent or intended for another context section) has long emphasized fostering innovation alongside regulation.

However, the article quotes SEC Chair Paul Atkins asserting that the current SEC under him “is now focused on ‘how do we advance innovation in the marketplace'”.

Source: Screenshot/Caption from Original*

Related Reporting Screenshot/Caption — *Source: BTCTN / Screenshot/Caption*

The report also identified private credit and U.S. government debt as key drivers for RWA tokenization.

Meanwhile, Robinhood built its own layer-2 blockchain for tokenized trading, and Kraken and Coinbase are aggressively pursuing tokenized security offerings.

*Note: The original article contains internal COINTELEGRAPH publication markers and placeholders; this rewrite focuses on core news content and relinks primary source attribution points.