Exchange-traded fund issuer 21Shares is seeking to launch a spot Ondo ETF in the United States, marking another stride into tokenized real-world assets. On Tuesday, the company filed a preliminary prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the proposed “21Shares Ondo Trust.”
The trust aims to directly hold ONDO tokens and mirror their market performance using the CME CF Ondo Finance-Dollar Reference Rate, with Coinbase appointed as the custodian. According to the filing, the product will operate as a passive investment vehicle without any leverage or speculative strategies. Investors will be able to create or redeem shares either in cash or in-kind.
ONDO serves as the native utility token of Ondo Chain, a layer-1 proof-of-stake blockchain tailored for institutional financial markets and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs). The token is currently priced at $1.12, down roughly 48% from its all-time high of $2.14 recorded in December, with a market capitalization of $3.5 billion and a circulating supply of 3.1 billion out of 10 billion total tokens according to CoinGhecko.
Ondo Finance recently broadened its regulatory footprint by acquiring Oasis Pro, an SEC-registered broker-dealer and Alternative Trading System, earlier this month. The acquisition is expected to facilitate the launch of tokenized securities in collaboration with Pantera Capital.
Meanwhile, World Liberty Financial – the Trump family’s decentralized finance platform – has been an early supporter of Ondo Finance, having purchased $250,000 worth of ONDO tokens last December. Its current holdings stand at 342,000 ONDO tokens, valued at approximately $383,000, according to Nansen data. However, ONDO accounts for just 0.2% of the platform’s $208 million portfolio, which is largely composed of stablecoins, wrapped Ether, and Bitcoin.
The filing comes amid explosive growth in the tokenized RWA sector, which has surged 58% this year to nearly $25 billion in value, based on data from RWA.xyz. Ethereum remains the dominant blockchain for tokenized assets, commanding a 55% market share.
Ondo Chain was first unveiled in February as an institution-focused blockchain for Wall Street firms looking to tokenize financial instruments and other RWAs.
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