Ondo executive says tokenization is following the same path as early ETFs

Tokenized assets look to be following the trajectory of exchange-traded funds, with early skepticism starting to move into a phase of growing adoption, according to John Hoffman, Ondo Finance’s managing director and head of product portfolios.

"The parallels between what’s happened with ETFs over the last 33 years are very similar to how I see this market developing right now," Hoffman told The Block at Wyoming Blockchain Symposium 2026. "It feels like we’re, in a lot of ways, going back in time, seeing the progression of a new technology that’s going to ultimately transform markets."

Hoffman joined Ondo a little over two months ago after spending 18 years in traditional finance, most recently leading Invesco's ETF business in the Americas. He said ETFs faced much of the same doubts that the tokenization sector is now experiencing, mostly around whether the technology works and what problems it solves.

Ondo began offering tokenized U.S. Treasuries in early 2023 with the launch of OUSG, its institutional fund that gives investors exposure to short-term government debt, and now has about $2 billion in total value locked across its Treasury products, according to Hoffman.

The company would go on to launch Ondo Global Markets, a platform for tokenized stocks and ETFs, which he said reached $1 billion in TVL within eight months.

"Stablecoins took three years to reach $1 billion. Tokenized treasuries took 18 months to reach $1 billion. And Ondo Stocks did that in eight months," Hoffman said. "It tells me that there’s clearly product-market fit."

Hoffman added that Ondo's perpetuals platform has done about $9 billion in notional volume since launching seven weeks ago and that the firm is preparing to introduce "intelligent portfolios," which will bundle tokenized equities into a single token.

The products are currently only available outside the U.S., but legislation like the Clarity Act could change that.

“As regulatory clarity continues to firm, we think we have a path here in the U.S. to do this as well,” he said.