Ondo Finance Unveils Onchain Tokenized Private-Market Notes, Starting With a Pre-IPO AI Name

Ondo Finance has launched Ondo Private Markets, a new offering designed to give investors onchain exposure to leading private companies via tokenized notes, according to ME News. The announcement was made on Oct. 6 (UTC+8). The first product will track an unlisted company in the artificial intelligence sector, with secondary-market trading expected to begin this week. Ondo said the platform will later broaden coverage to private companies across robotics, cybersecurity, biotechnology and infrastructure. Ondo emphasized that the tokens are not equity and do not represent shares in the underlying companies. Instead, they provide holders with economic exposure linked to the performance of the company's common stock if a qualified liquidity event occurs. The tokens are freely transferable onchain and are designed to integrate with DeFi ecosystems. The product is built on Ondo's existing onchain asset infrastructure, which supports tokenized equities and U.S. Treasuries. Ondo reported combined TVL of about $3.7 billion and more than 1 million cumulative holders. Ondo noted that most large U.S. companies remain privately held, estimating that about 87% of firms generating more than $100 million in annual revenue are not public. It said traditional investors often face obstacles to accessing early-stage growth opportunities in these businesses, and that Ondo Private Markets aims to offer qualified investors a more flexible, blockchain-based secondary-market channel to adjust private-market exposure around the clock. (Source: ChainCatcher)