Ondo abandons layer-1 blockchain plan, launches private trading network for tokenised assets

Key points

Ondo Finance has formally abandoned Ondo Chain, its February 2025 layer-1 blockchain vision, replacing it with Ondo Network, a private trading platform that separates execution from public-chain settlement.
Ondo Perps, the first application on the network, enables perpetual futures trading using tokenised assets as collateral.
Ondo holds approximately $2.6 billion in tokenised U.S. Treasury products (OUSG and USDY) and roughly $850 million in tokenised equities as of the reporting date, per rwa.xyz.
Ondo's broker-dealer received FINRA approval last week to launch regulated markets and services for tokenised securities.
The network is designed to expand beyond perpetual futures into spot markets, lending, structured products, and settlement infrastructure, indicating a platform-level ambition rather than a single vertical.

Ondo Finance has scrapped its February 2025 plan for Ondo Chain, a conventional layer-1 blockchain aimed at institutional finance, and replaced it with Ondo Network, a trading platform that separates order execution from settlement. The first live application, Ondo Perps, allows users to trade perpetual futures with tokenised assets as collateral; trades are executed privately for speed, while final asset transfers settle on public blockchains.

CEO Ian de Bode framed the pivot as a natural evolution rather than a retreat, telling CoinDesk that the network is “where we landed when we looked at the actual needs we had for the applications we were building.” The decision reflects a specific institutional concern: participants want blockchain-based settlement without exposing order flow, positions, or trading activity to competitors on a fully public chain.

Ondo arrives at this infrastructure layer with substantial distribution already in place. The firm holds roughly $2.6 billion in tokenised U.S. Treasury products across its OUSG and USDY instruments and approximately $850 million in tokenised equities, according to rwa.xyz. Its broker-dealer also received FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) approval last week to launch regulated markets and services for tokenised securities. Ondo Network is positioned to eventually support spot markets, lending, structured products, and settlement infrastructure beyond perpetual futures, suggesting the firm views this as a long-term platform build rather than a single-product launch.

What this means

collateral & funding desk: Ondo Perps accepting tokenised assets as collateral for perpetual futures creates a new venue worth mapping against existing collateral transformation workflows, particularly given Ondo's $2.6 billion Treasury product base as a potential collateral pool.
infrastructure & platform: Separating private execution from public-chain settlement is an architectural choice that will shape integration costs; any team building connectivity to Ondo Network should assess how the execution-settlement split interacts with existing clearing and settlement rails before committing to an integration path.
compliance/legal/risk: FINRA approval of Ondo's broker-dealer for tokenised securities markets, combined with a proprietary private execution layer, raises questions about how trade reporting obligations and best-execution requirements apply across this hybrid architecture, warranting early engagement with counsel on applicable regulatory treatment.
founder & strategy: Pivoting away from a public layer-1 after roughly 17 months suggests that institutional adoption pressure is reshaping infrastructure assumptions faster than initially modelled; competitors still committed to fully public-chain execution should stress-test whether their current architecture matches the privacy and speed requirements that Ondo cites as decisive.

Original source

Coindesk Markets desk

coindesk.com

Ondo abandons layer-1 blockchain plan, launches private trading network for tokenised assets

Key points

Original source

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