$250M Ondo Catalyst fund signals ‘arms race’ for RWA tokenization

Ondo Finance and Pantera Capital are launching a $250 million fund to fuel tokenized real-world asset projects.

DeFi protocol Ondo Finance and venture firm Pantera Capital plan to ramp up investments in real-world assets (RWAs), highlighting the industry’s increasing focus on tokenization amid favorable regulatory developments in the United States.

Both companies informed Axios that they plan to invest $250 million in RWAs through a new fund called Ondo Catalyst. Ondo’s chief strategy officer, Ian De Bode, says the funds will be invested to acquire equity stakes and tokens in emerging projects.

“We are seeing a bit of an arms race right now” in the tokenization market, De Bode told Axios, referring to the surge of companies entering the space. Exchanges in particular are zeroing in on tokenized stocks and exchange-traded fund (ETF) offerings.

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