Ondo Finance Launches Tokenized Pre-IPO AI Notes in Private Markets
Ondo Finance, a platform specializing in tokenizing real-world assets, is venturing into private markets with a new offering. The company has introduced Ondo Private Markets, which provides tokenized notes tied to the value of pre-IPO shares in an unnamed artificial intelligence company. These notes allow investors to gain economic exposure without holding the company's shares directly. The payouts from these notes are linked to the value realized per common share at a future liquidity event.
Eligible investors will be able to hold these notes in self-custody wallets or trade them on secondary markets at any time. Ondo Finance expects the first of these notes to begin trading this week. The company also plans to expand this offering to include companies in sectors such as robotics, cybersecurity, biotech, and infrastructure in the future.
Ondo Finance's existing platform, Ondo Stocks, has already seen significant success. It offers tokenized versions of US stocks and exchange-traded funds, with over $1 billion in total value locked and more than 450 tokenized stocks and ETFs available. Other financial platforms have also shown interest in private markets, with Robinhood's venture fund investing $75 million in OpenAI common stock and Citi reportedly launching a blockchain marketplace for private-company shares.