According to the latest market news , the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has officially concluded its two-year investigation into Ondo Finance, the RWA tokenization project, and issued a notice of closure, confirming that no charges will be brought. This investigation, which began in 2023, primarily focused on the legality of Ondo's tokenized U.S. Treasury products and whether the platform's native tokens constituted securities. Last month, the SEC sent a formal letter to Ondo Finance, explicitly stating that the investigation was over and the case was officially closed.
Background of the investigation
In early 2023, during the period of strictest cryptocurrency regulation, the SEC launched investigations into several tokenized asset (RWA) projects. Ondo Finance, due to its rapidly growing scale of tokenized U.S. Treasury bonds, became a key target of regulatory crackdown. The investigation focused on whether Ondo sold security tokens to U.S. investors without registration and whether its partnerships with traditional brokerages complied with regulations.
Market analysts point out that the conclusion of this case aligns with the current friendly attitude of US authorities towards cryptocurrencies. Since the appointment of new SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, numerous lawsuits and investigations targeting crypto projects have been withdrawn or terminated. Ondo Finance is the first major tokenized asset platform to receive a "completely innocent" ruling from the SEC, signifying substantial regulatory approval for tokenized US Treasury bonds and other RWA products in the US market. This not only loosens restrictions on Ondo itself but also provides a positive precedent for other similar products, potentially accelerating the influx of institutional funds into the on-chain Treasury bond market and the RWA tokenization sector.
In response, Ondo Finance also issued a statement on the X platform:
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has officially ended a secret investigation into Ondo Finance during the Biden era without bringing any charges.
The investigation, launched in 2024, primarily focused on whether Ondo's tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) complied with U.S. federal securities laws, and whether its native tokens constituted securities. This occurred at the height of the SEC's stringent regulatory scrutiny of digital asset companies, and Ondo, through its rapid growth in tokenizing U.S. Treasury bonds, became one of the earliest and most prominent innovators in the field.
Even in the face of a challenging regulatory environment, Ondo remains committed to its core belief: to tokenize the safest and most mature assets in global finance—such as U.S. Treasury bonds and listed stocks—which can bring about revolutionary changes and is entirely legal and compliant.
However, this conclusion still represents a significant milestone for the entire asset tokenization ecosystem. Regulators are shifting from an "enforcement-first" approach to a framework that supports modern market infrastructure. The SEC has begun actively engaging in dialogue with industry to unlock the potential of tokenization for the U.S. capital markets; global adoption is accelerating; and U.S. infrastructure is evolving to support this area.
The path to tokenized U.S. Treasury bonds and tokenized stocks becoming core components of the U.S. capital markets is clearer than ever. The future of global finance will be realized on-chain, and Ondo will be the leader in guiding this transformation.
$ONDO rose in response
Following the news, the price of the $ONDO token rose briefly, currently trading at $0.50, a 7.6% increase in the past 24 hours. This reflects investor optimism regarding the "relief of regulatory uncertainty."
