Ondo Finance launched Ondo Private Markets, a new product that tokenizes exposure to private company equity through blockchain. The first asset is a pre-IPO AI company fund expected to begin secondary market trading this week, according to the announcement.
The product expands Ondo's tokenization strategy beyond public markets. Ondo Global Markets, the company's existing offering, provides onchain exposure to publicly traded equities through tokenized notes. Private Markets operates on the same mechanism but points to pre-IPO or illiquid holdings, allowing investors to gain fractional exposure to venture capital returns through blockchain infrastructure.
Ondo Finance operates as a blockchain infrastructure layer for institutional financial products. The company has built compliance and settlement systems that allow regulated financial assets to be wrapped as tokens and traded on public blockchain networks. Ondo Global Markets has grown to become one of the larger onchain equity exposure products since its 2023 launch, competing with offerings from platforms like Ethena and Blur in the institutional onchain finance space.
The mechanics of Private Markets mirror Global Markets but operate with longer lock-up windows typical of private equity. Investors receive tokenized notes backed by fund interests or secondary positions in private companies. The first asset focuses on artificial intelligence venture. Ondo did not disclose assets under management or the number of private funds planned for the platform at launch.
Private equity tokenization has faced regulatory uncertainty in most jurisdictions. The structure Ondo uses, tokenized notes rather than direct security issuance, attempts to fit within existing guidance in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, where Ondo operates. The company has registered as a financial services firm in Abu Dhabi and secured approval from Singapore's Monetary Authority for similar tokenized equity products.
Tokenized U.S. Treasury bills on Ethereum and other chains exceeded $1.5 billion in value as of early 2026. Ondo's timing coincides with growing allocator interest in private company exposure and the custody and settlement infrastructure available to support it. Pre-IPO AI companies have attracted record allocations, and secondary market liquidity for such positions remains limited. Tokenizing existing venture fund interests allows institutional investors to access AI exposure without committing capital to new fund vehicles or waiting for company exits.
The practical scale of the Private Markets offering will depend on how many funds Ondo can convince to tokenize their holdings and how much capital deploys into the initial AI fund. A similar product from a traditional fintech platform would require regulatory approvals in each jurisdiction where it operates; Ondo's blockchain-native structure compresses that timeline but introduces regulatory risk if any jurisdiction challenges the tokenization approach. The number of secondary market trades in the first month will indicate whether institutional demand for onchain private equity is translating into actual volume.
