Ondo Finance, a platform renowned for tokenizing real-world assets, recently stated its plans to launch a layer-1 blockchain network. This network is specifically aimed at Wall Street firms, allowing them to tokenize real-world assets (RWAs). The announcement was made at the inaugural New York summit of Ondo Finance.
Chase Herro, a co-founder of World Liberty Financial, which is tied to the Trump family, reportedly revealed at the summit that the crypto platform will establish a “strategic reserve” using the tokens it has, including the Ondo (ONDO) token.
The development of Ondo Chain will be guided by Ondo’s current members such as BlackRock, PayPal, and Morgan Stanley, and new members including Franklin Templeton, WisdomTree, Google Cloud, ABN Amro, Aon, and McKinsey.
The primary objective of Ondo’s layer-1 is to facilitate numerous institutional use cases, including prime brokerage with a cross-collateralized margin for RWAs, staking tokenized RWAs, and wealth management. However, the exact launch date for layer-1 hasn’t been disclosed.
Ondo Finance mentioned that Ondo Chain validators could stake RWAs to safeguard the network. However, it will operate on a permissioned model to avoid MEV and front-running. This strategy will enhance investor protections and make Ondo Chain suitable for institutions seeking best execution guarantees. However, the platform will be open for anyone to issue tokens, develop apps, and participate.
The announcement comes as World Liberty Financial plans to create a strategic reserve with the tokens it owns. This reserve is likely to include the $470,000 worth of ONDO tokens it purchased recently, according to data from Arkham Intelligence. The platform bought $270,000 worth of ONDO tokens on Dec. 15 during a flurry of token purchases amounting to nearly $45 million, which also included Ether (ETH) and Coinbase Wrapped BTC (cbBTC). Currently, the crypto platform of the Trump family holds $35.4 million worth of different cryptocurrencies.
