SEC Drops Ondo Probe as US Tokenization Enters a New Phase
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has officially closed its multi-year investigation into New York–based tokenization platform Ondo Finance without bringing any charges, marking one of the clearest regulatory signals yet that real-world asset tokenization is moving toward structured integration in the United States.
The inquiry, which began in 2023 under a far more aggressive enforcement environment, examined whether Ondo’s tokenized real-world assets complied with federal securities laws and whether its ONDO token should be classified as a security. With the case now formally closed, a major legal cloud hanging over U.S. tokenization efforts has been lifted.
The decision also reflects a broader shift in regulatory posture since Paul Atkins took over as SEC chair, with the agency winding down several high-profile crypto cases while bringing tokenization onto its formal policy agenda. For the industry, this move reinforces the idea that onchain versions of stocks, funds, and other financial instruments are no longer at the margins of the U.S. financial system.
While most tokenized equity platforms still primarily serve overseas clients—especially in Europe—the end of this probe raises new questions about whether large-scale U.S. access to tokenized securities could finally be on the horizon. With traditional asset managers and infrastructure firms accelerating their own onchain strategies, the regulatory groundwork for a domestic tokenization market now appears closer than at any point in the past five years.
