In the context of the rapid development of blockchain technology, Ondo Finance, as a decentralized financial protocol, is committed to providing users with institutional-level financial products and services. Its core business is to tokenize high-quality assets such as U.S. Treasury bonds and money market funds to provide more stable investment options for users on the chain. Ondo Finance has performed well in the RWA (Real World Assets) track, with its total value locked (TVL) growing six-fold over the past year, becoming an important driving force in this field.
Project introduction
Ondo Finance’s goal is to build an open, permissionless, decentralized investment bank that uses blockchain technology to provide investors with risk-free, stable-income investment products. Its tokenized assets not only provide users with an alternative to stablecoins, but also allow holders to obtain higher returns from the underlying assets.
Basic project information: Project name: Ondo Finance
Date of establishment: March 2021
Founders: Nathan Allman, Pinku Surana
Main business: Tokenization of high-quality assets such as U.S. Treasury bonds and money market funds
Project development history: The development history of Ondo Finance can be divided into multiple important stages, covering its key transformation from DeFi to RWA.
March 2021: The company was founded, focusing on DeFi
Ondo Finance, co-founded by former Goldman Sachs employees Nathan Allman and Pinku Surana, initially focused on introducing high-yielding structured assets. In August 2021, Ondo launched its first product, Ondo Vaults, which allows users to choose different income strategies when decentralized exchanges provide liquidity.
August 2021: Seed round of financing: In this round of financing, Pantera Capital led the investment, with the financing amount reaching US$4 million, and the token price was 1 ONDO = 0.0057 USD. Ondo’s goal is to provide DeFi traders with tools for risk hedging and profit utilization.
Second half of 2021: Launch of LaaS services: Liquidity as a Service (LaaS) helps token issuers increase liquidity on decentralized exchanges, with Ondo providing over $210 million in total liquidity to multiple DAOs and underwriters.
April 2022: Series A financing
In this round of financing, Pantera Capital and Founders Fund led the investment, with a financing amount of US$20 million and a token price of 1 ONDO = 0.0285 USD. Ondo began to expand its positioning to structured investment products on decentralized exchanges.
May 2022: ICO financing: Ondo completed ICO financing on the CoinList platform and sold 3 million ONDO at a price of $0.03. This round of financing, worth US$10.25 million, marks Ondo’s further opening to public investors.
January-February 2023: Transformation to the RWA track: With the yield rate compression in the DeFi market, the Ondo team decided to abandon the previous Vaults and LaaS and switch to the RWA track, launching new tokenized financial products USDY and OUSG, becoming A member of the RWA field.
January 2024: ONDO tokens are unlocked for circulation: After community voting, the ONDO tokens were unlocked for circulation on January 18, 2024. After unlocking, the price once exceeded $0.3. Coinbase also announced that ONDO would be included in the currency listing roadmap.
future outlook
Ondo Finance’s success in the RWA circuit has made it an important player in the field. Future growth points are mainly reflected in the following aspects:
Expansion of the scale of existing products: Ondo will continue to optimize and expand its existing tokenized products to attract more investors.
Launching other types of RWA products: Through continuous innovation, Ondo plans to launch more types of real-world asset products to meet the needs of different investors.
An important bridge connecting the on-chain and off-chain: Ondo’s long-term goal is to become an important bridge connecting the on-chain and off-chain financial markets and promote the digitization of more traditional assets.
Challenges faced
Despite its promising prospects, Ondo Finance still faces some challenges, mainly including:
Fierce market competition: The RWA industry is huge, with many powerful institutions vying to enter the market, and market competition will become increasingly fierce.
Token usage scenarios are unclear: $ONDO tokens are currently mainly used for DAO governance and lack other practical usage scenarios. Future application prospects still need to be further clarified.
Centralization risk: Currently, about 80% of $ONDO tokens are in the hands of the project team, and the distribution mechanism is unclear, which may bring certain centralization risks.
in conclusion
As an innovator in the blockchain field, Ondo Finance provides users with new investment options by tokenizing real-world assets. Its success on the RWA circuit and future growth potential make it a project worth keeping an eye on. However, market competition and clarity around token usage scenarios will be key factors in its future development. With the continuous advancement of technology, Ondo Finance is expected to occupy a place in the financial ecosystem of Web3.