Timeline
- 8.0
Exclusive | BlackRock Investment Portfolios Debut on the Blockchain as Digital Tokens
BlackRock has brought investment portfolios onto the blockchain as digital tokens, extending tokenized real-world-asset products from the world's largest asset manager into mainstream investment offerings. According to reports on the launch, BlackRock builds the portfolios and Ondo Finance tokenizes them by issuing one token that tracks each portfolio, with three portfolios involved. The move gives tokenized real-world assets a major mainstream endorsement from the world's largest asset manager, pushing on-chain portfolio products from niche pilots toward mainstream investment offerings. The tokenized products are model portfolios — preset investing templates — with one token issued per portfolio to track its performance. Reporting on the launch ties the tokenization to Ondo Finance.
- 7.0
Ondo unlocks BlackRock portfolio strategies, but only non-US traders benefit
Ondo Finance launched three on-chain portfolio tokens on Sept. 24 — Ondo High Income (BLKHIon), Ondo Diversified Growth (BLKDIGon) and Ondo High Growth (BLKGRWon) — built on portfolio strategies BlackRock developed for Ondo. The tokens are securities issued by Ondo Global Markets (BVI) Limited, not interests in BlackRock funds or in the underlying securities. The products let holders gain economic exposure to diversified, model-driven baskets on-chain, while direct minting and redemption are reserved for eligible non-US investors who complete identity and anti-money-laundering onboarding. BlackRock does not manage the portfolios and owes no advisory or fiduciary duty to token investors. BlackRock Fund Advisors supplies model allocations but does not make investment decisions for the on-chain portfolios; Ondo implements the models using tokenized assets, rebalances them on a preset schedule, and decides whether to apply any model changes, so a portfolio may differ from its corresponding model. Tokens remain transferable peer-to-peer around the clock, but possession alone does not qualify a holder to redeem with Ondo, and CryptoBriefing reported the ONDO token rose as much as 30% around the launch.
- 7.5
Someone was trying to sell Ondo Finance after founder Nathan Allman's death
According to CoinDesk, someone was attempting to sell Ondo Finance following the death of the protocol's founder, Nathan Allman. Ondo Finance vehemently denied that it was shopping for buyers, and Allman's estate declined to comment. Ondo Finance is a major real-world-asset tokenization platform, so questions over who controls the company and the founder's estate touch the protocol's leadership continuity and its token holders. CoinDesk reports that Ondo Finance "vehemently" denied it was seeking buyers, while Allman's estate declined to comment. The report is by Will Canny, edited by Aoyon Ashraf and Cheyenne Ligon.
- 7.0
Ondo succession crisis deepens as founder's half-sister seeks conservatorship
On Sept. 16, Dr. Lani Clinton — half-sister of the late Ondo Finance founder Nathan Allman — and Ondo investor David Chen petitioned a Hawaiian court for a limited conservatorship over their 77-year-old mother Kathleen Allman's share of the founder's estate, alleging cognitive impairment, alcoholism and reckless financial spending. Kathleen Allman denies the claims and accuses the petitioners of forum-shopping after failing to remove her from Ondo's board, arguing that Chen is funding the Hawaii petition, shares counsel with acting CEO Ian De Bode, and relied on sealed materials from the Delaware case. The disputed estate includes a "controlling equity interest in Ondo Finance" plus a "very large holding of ONDO tokens," so the outcome of this family litigation determines who effectively controls one of the largest real-world-asset tokenization protocols and its governance token. The conservatorship fight also runs parallel to Kathleen Allman's suit accusing acting CEO Ian De Bode of a "brazen usurpation of corporate control" and of plotting an approximately $11 million compensation package within a week of the founder's death. According to the litigation, De Bode's package comprised a $900,000 annual salary and bonus, a $1 million signing bonus, 26 million restricted token units valued at more than $9 million, and awards covering 846,000 shares that would have raised his stake from 0.33% to 8% — roughly a 24-fold increase — with vesting set to begin May 25, the day after Allman died. Kathleen Allman had appointed herself and her other child, Tahnee Towill, to Ondo's board and named herself chair and interim CEO, but De Bode remains acting CEO and a board member under a Sept. 3 court order, and a Delaware court has already rejected his argument that Kathy and Towill were unfit to serve as directors.