Ondo Opens 24/7 Onchain Access to Private Companies, Starting With AI

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Ondo Finance is moving tokenization into a part of capital markets that has historically been difficult for ordinary investors to access: private companies.

The company announced Ondo Private Markets, a platform offering tokenized notes whose economic value is linked to shares in private businesses.

The first product will reference a pre-IPO artificial intelligence company, with additional exposure planned across robotics, cybersecurity, biotechnology and infrastructure.

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These tokens are not private-company shares

The structure is important.

Ondo says the products are tokenized notes designed to track the economic performance of a referenced company’s per-share value at a qualifying liquidity event. Holders do not own the underlying company’s shares and do not receive shareholder rights.

That distinction separates the product from direct equity ownership.

The appeal is liquidity. Traditional private-company investments can lock investors in for years until an acquisition, tender offer or IPO provides an exit. Ondo says eligible investors will be able to trade the tokenized notes 24/7 on secondary markets.

The tokens will also be transferable and potentially composable with other on-chain financial applications.

Ondo’s announcement says its broader tokenized-asset infrastructure now has roughly $3.7 billion in TVL and more than one million cumulative holders.

Private markets are a much harder tokenization problem

Tokenized Treasury bills are relatively straightforward because the underlying assets are standardized, liquid and frequently priced.

Private companies are different. Their shares may trade infrequently, valuations can be opaque and liquidity events can occur years apart.

That makes the design of the note — including how it references the private company’s value and what constitutes a qualifying liquidity event — critical.

Ondo also makes clear that the products are not available to U.S. persons. The announcement says the tokens have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act and are offered only to eligible investors in permitted jurisdictions.

The product therefore sits at the intersection of two trends: the rapid growth of real-world assets on public blockchains and investor demand for exposure to private technology companies before an IPO.

If the model gains traction, private-company tokenization could become a much larger market than tokenized public equities. But it also introduces more valuation, liquidity and legal complexity than the Treasury products that have dominated RWA growth so far.

Source: Ondo Finance announcement.