Ondo Tokenizes BlackRock and Micron Under U.S. Custody Rules

Ondo Finance put tokenized versions of BlackRock’s iShares Core S&P 500 ETF and Micron Technology shares on Ethereum on Thursday, the SEC’s third-party custodial model in production for U.S. equities. The launch places the world’s largest ETF by assets and a U.S. chipmaker onchain while keeping the underlying shares inside the existing U.S. custody chain. U.S. investors cannot buy the tokens yet; Ondo’s rollout is aimed at non-U.S. investors while the firm works toward broader domestic access.

The U.S. had been the gap in tokenized markets. Until now, tokenized securities largely operated outside the country or required issuer sponsorship on a stock-by-stock basis. Thursday’s launch puts a third-party tokenized structure inside the regulatory perimeter for the first time, with shareholder rights routed through the same governance infrastructure U.S. investors already use.

Ondo puts BlackRock IVV and Micron onchain, with the shares still in U.S. custody

Ondo Finance announced the launch on July 2, 2026, putting BlackRock’s iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) and Micron Technology (MU) on the Ethereum blockchain. Each token is backed one-to-one by the underlying shares, which stay inside the traditional U.S. regulated custody chain. Oasis Pro TA, an SEC-registered transfer agent and an indirect subsidiary of Ondo, mints the tokens; regulated custodians hold the corresponding shares.

The structure is built to match the SEC’s third-party custodial model, the framework the regulator outlined in a January 2026 staff statement on tokenized securities. Under that model, a regulated intermediary holds an issuer’s securities in custody and issues blockchain-based tokens representing a holder’s entitlement to those assets. It is the alternative to issuer-sponsored tokenization, in which the issuer of the underlying security is involved in the issuance process. Ondo’s version uses Ethereum, a public blockchain, and routes every transfer through the participating broker-dealer, transfer agent, and custodian so transfer restrictions follow existing U.S. rules. Broadridge Financial Solutions, the New York-listed infrastructure firm, runs the onchain proxy voting and shareholder communications through its ProxyVote.com platform.

Until now, tokenized securities largely operated outside the U.S. or required issuer sponsorship on a stock-by-stock basis. Thursday’s launch is the first production deployment of the third-party custodial model in the U.S., per Ondo’s announcement of tokenized IVV and Micron securities.

How the third-party custodial model works

The SEC sketched the third-party custodial approach in a January 2026 staff statement on tokenized securities. In that statement, the regulator described a setup in which a third party holds an issuer’s securities and issues crypto assets representing a holder’s entitlement to the underlying security. Ondo’s launch is the first time that model has been put into production in the U.S.

Four actors carry the structure. The SEC provides the regulatory perimeter and the staff statement’s framing. A regulated custodian holds the underlying IVV and Micron shares in the same place U.S. brokerage shares sit today. Oasis Pro TA, the SEC-registered transfer agent Ondo acquired last year, mints the tokens on Ethereum. The participating broker-dealer enforces transfer restrictions under existing rules.

Ondo’s registered transfer agent mints tokens backed one-to-one by the underlying shares, and those shares never leave the regulated custody chain. The tokens are issued on Ethereum and held by regulated custodians, so the chain that wraps the shares is the same chain that wraps the rest of U.S. securities today.

The SEC’s January statement is staff guidance, not a formal rule approved by the agency’s commissioners. Staff statements indicate how the regulator is thinking about an issue but do not carry the full weight of formal guidance. The statement coincided with a broader debate over whether tokenized stocks issued without issuer involvement confer the same rights as traditional shares. Ondo’s stated position is that the perimeter holds even as the framework firms up.

Broadridge is what makes the shareholder rights real

Tokenized stocks have long carried an unresolved question over whether holders actually get shareholder rights or just price exposure. OpenAI’s mid-2025 public rebuke of Robinhood turned it into the most visible fight in the space. Ondo’s answer runs through Broadridge Financial Solutions.

Tokenization will only scale when it delivers both innovation and investor confidence.

That is Doug DeSchutter, president of Broadridge’s Investor Communication Solutions business, in the launch press release.

Broadridge runs proxy voting, regulatory disclosures, and issuer communications for the token holders through its ProxyVote.com platform. Token holders can vote in corporate actions on the same platform a U.S. brokerage shareholder uses, with the same disclosures. An issuer like Micron can reach token holders with the same regulatory mailings it sends to traditional investors. The integration extends shareholder communications, proxy materials, and voting rights to token holders through Broadridge’s existing investor services infrastructure, not a parallel crypto-native voting system.

The product U.S. investors still can’t buy

The tokens are not yet available in the U.S. Ondo’s launch is aimed at non-U.S. investors for now, and the company is working toward broader domestic access. Until U.S. broker-dealers and regulators clear the path, American retail and institutional investors can only watch from the sidelines. CEO Ian De Bode said the rollout “provides a strong foundation for our expanding access to onchain investments for more U.S. investors.” The product is the first tokenized U.S. equity offering structured to come inside the country’s regulatory perimeter.

Ondo’s announcement coincides with a broader tokenization race that has visibly accelerated this year. Other U.S. tokenized-equity efforts have largely stayed offshore or required issuer sponsorship on a case-by-case basis. The July 2 launch is the first live transfer of third-party tokenized U.S. equities under the new framework.

A direct reply to last year’s Robinhood and OpenAI fight

In mid-2025, OpenAI publicly said it had not authorized Robinhood’s tokenized offering tied to its shares. The company warned that the tokens did not represent equity in OpenAI. The fight sharpened the debate over whether tokenized stocks actually confer shareholder rights. It also ran alongside the SEC’s work on the third-party custodial model that would be published in January 2026.

Ondo’s launch is built to defuse that exact question. By routing issuance through an SEC-registered transfer agent and keeping the underlying shares in regulated U.S. custody, the model removes the issuer-side ambiguity that triggered OpenAI’s warning. Broadridge’s integration adds the voting and disclosure layer that turns price exposure into shareholder membership.

Ondo’s model does not retroactively change how Robinhood’s offerings work. It does give issuers, regulators, and U.S. investors a domestic template to point to when the question comes up again.

A crowded race for onchain U.S. securities

Ondo’s launch lands inside a market Citi sizes at $5.5 trillion by 2030 in its base case and $8 trillion in a bull case, per the bank’s Tokenization 2030 base case of $5.5 trillion. Citi expects 10% of the U.S. Treasury bill market and 3% of the U.S. public stock market to be tokenized by 2030. If 10% of U.S. retail investors use on-chain solutions by 2030, Citi forecasts about $2.6 trillion of demand for tokenized public equities.

Other infrastructure players are publicly moving in the same week. Securitize completed its merger with Cantor Equity Partners II on June 30 and began trading on the NYSE on July 2, 2026, under ticker SECZ. The deal raised approximately $400 million at a $1.25 billion pre-money valuation. Securitize administers BlackRock’s BUIDL tokenized money market fund, which has grown to over $3 billion in total value locked. CEO Carlos Domingo framed the listing as a marker for the sector’s trajectory.

Ripple, meanwhile, has proposed a lending protocol for the XRP Ledger that would let banks and payment providers borrow against tokenized assets, per the XRPL Lending Protocol proposal for banks. The Single Asset Vault and Lending Protocol specifications (XLS-65 and XLS-66) are subject to validator approval, with devnet integration open now.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation has expanded its blockchain-based infrastructure for tokenized assets. Exchanges including Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange have announced tokenization initiatives to integrate blockchain into regulated securities markets. Robinhood has rolled out its own blockchain and expanded tokenized stocks beyond Europe. The result is a crowded field that, until Ondo’s launch, had not produced a live, transferable U.S. equity inside the regulatory perimeter.

• Securitize: NYSE debut under ticker SECZ on July 2, 2026, at a $1.25 billion pre-money valuation, with a $400 million raise.
• Ripple: proposed XRPL Lending Protocol (XLS-65 and XLS-66) letting banks borrow against tokenized assets, subject to validator approval.
• DTCC: expanded blockchain-based infrastructure for tokenized assets.
• Nasdaq and NYSE: announced tokenization initiatives to integrate blockchain into regulated securities markets.
• Robinhood: rolled out its own blockchain and expanded tokenized stocks beyond Europe.

What still has to happen

The SEC’s January 2026 framework is staff guidance, not a formal rule approved by the agency’s commissioners. Staff statements indicate how the regulator is thinking about a topic but do not carry the full weight of formal rulemaking. Until the Commission itself endorses the custodial model in a formal action, the perimeter rests on a softer foundation than a binding rule would provide.

U.S. retail access is the second open question. Ondo has not yet named a launch date for American investors, and the company is working through the broker-dealer and transfer agent steps that domestic distribution requires. Ondo already manages more than $1 billion in tokenized stocks and ETFs across 430-plus securities outside the U.S., per the company. CEO Ian De Bode said the rollout “provides a strong foundation for our expanding access to onchain investments for more U.S. investors.”

Frequently Asked Questions

What did Ondo Finance tokenize on July 2, 2026?

Ondo Finance launched tokenized versions of BlackRock’s iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) and Micron Technology (MU) shares on Ethereum. Each token is backed one-to-one by the underlying share, which sits inside the traditional U.S. custody chain. The launch was the first production deployment of the third-party custodial framework the SEC described in its January 2026 staff statement on tokenized securities.

How does the SEC’s third-party custodial tokenization model work?

Under the model, a regulated intermediary holds the issuer’s shares in custody and issues blockchain-based tokens representing a holder’s entitlement to those assets. Ondo’s version uses Oasis Pro TA, an SEC-registered transfer agent, to mint the tokens on Ethereum, while regulated custodians hold the underlying IVV and Micron shares in the U.S. and the participating broker-dealer enforces transfer restrictions under existing rules.

Why can’t U.S. investors buy Ondo’s tokenized IVV and Micron?

The July 2 launch was aimed at non-U.S. investors. Ondo is working toward broader domestic access, but U.S. distribution requires broker-dealer and transfer-agent steps that have not yet been completed. American retail and institutional investors can monitor the rollout but cannot yet purchase the tokens.

How is Ondo’s launch different from Robinhood’s tokenized stocks?

Ondo’s tokens are backed one-to-one by IVV and Micron shares held in regulated U.S. custody, with voting and disclosure routed through Broadridge’s ProxyVote.com platform. Robinhood’s tokenized offerings, which drew a public rebuke from OpenAI in mid-2025, are structured differently and were disputed by the issuer of the underlying exposure. Ondo’s model keeps the share register on the U.S. side and gives token holders the same shareholder rights as brokerage shareholders.

What does the broader tokenization market look like by 2030?

By 2030, Citi projects a $5.5 trillion base-case market for tokenized assets and $8 trillion in a bull case, built on roughly 10% of the U.S. T-bill market, 3% of U.S. equities, and about $2.6 trillion of demand from U.S. retail alone. On the infrastructure side, Securitize’s BlackRock-administered BUIDL tokenized money market fund has already cleared $3 billion in total value locked.

Disclaimer: This article covers tokenized securities and blockchain-based financial products. The information is for general purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Figures cited are accurate as of publication on July 3, 2026, and may change. Consult a qualified professional before making investment decisions.