Author: Changan I Biteye Content Team

On May 26, 2026, Ondo Finance officially announced the unexpected death of founder Nathan Allman.

This news brought the market's attention back to Ondo and put the RWA track back in the spotlight.

From tokenized U.S. Treasuries to Ondo Global Markets, and then to traditional financial assets exposure such as U.S. stocks and ETFs, Ondo has always stood at the core of traditional asset on-chain.

So, when traditional financial assets begin to be tokenized, who will control the next generation of asset entry?

Today, this question is no longer only about Ondo; different participants like xStocks and NYSE are also entering the U.S. stock tokenization market from different directions. They all seem to be bringing U.S. stocks on-chain, but the routes they represent are not the same.

1. Ondo's Contribution: Guiding RWA from Income Narrative to Asset Entry Narrative

Nathan Allman's contribution to Ondo was not just establishing an RWA project. More importantly, he took a direction that was still somewhat conceptual at the time and turned it into products that the market could understand and users could use.

In the early stages of the RWA narrative, the market's understanding of RWA was still vague. Much of the discussion stayed at the grand narrative level: real estate can go on-chain, bonds can go on-chain, and stocks can also go on-chain.

But when it comes to user concerns, people were more worried about specific questions: What can I actually buy? Where does the yield come from? How do I understand the risks?

Ondo was the first to seize upon the relatively clear entry of tokenized U.S. Treasuries.

In a high-interest-rate environment, on-chain capital began to seek more stable sources of income. Compared to DeFi yields that rely on token subsidies, traditional assets like U.S. Treasuries and money market funds already have mature pricing systems and market recognition.

Through products like OUSG and USDY, Ondo brought these types of traditional financial assets into the on-chain world. This is also one of Nathan Allman's pivotal contributions to Ondo: he turned RWA from a narrative into a product.

However, Ondo did not settle for just tokenizing U.S. Treasuries. From tokenized U.S. Treasuries to Ondo Global Markets, and then to exposures to U.S. stocks, ETFs, and other public market assets, Ondo's goals gradually became clearer: it wanted to package traditional financial assets into on-chain financial products and establish a new distribution method.

In the past, RWA was more like a supplementary option for the crypto market in search of yield.

Ondo made RWA a part of the on-chain financial system. Assets like U.S. Treasuries, stocks, and ETFs are not merely moved on-chain but can enter wallets, trading platforms, institutional products, and more financial scenarios.

This is why Nathan Allman's passing elicited such a strong response from the market. Ondo is no longer just an ordinary project; it is one of the most representative samples in this round of the RWA narrative. It embodies the market's imagination about whether "traditional financial assets can truly enter the on-chain world."

But this also serves as a reminder to the market that although RWA connects with traditional financial assets such as U.S. Treasuries, stocks, and ETFs, the project itself still faces startup-level vulnerabilities. Particularly for crypto projects, a founder’s unexpected departure can prompt external observers to reassess its organizational resilience.

If Ondo can continue to advance Global Markets, maintain institutional collaborations, expand distribution channels, and stabilize user and market confidence thereafter, this transition may prove that it no longer solely relies on a founder's drive but has entered a more mature stage.

Because of this, discussing Ondo today cannot just be about Ondo itself. As RWA continues from U.S. Treasury yield products toward U.S. stocks, ETFs, and other public market assets, it touches upon not just product innovations within crypto but also the account, distribution, and settlement systems traditionally controlled by conventional finance.

2. Why Will U.S. Stock Tokenization Change the Asset Entry of Traditional Brokerages?

When RWA progresses from U.S. Treasury yield products to public market assets such as U.S. stocks and ETFs, it goes beyond just on-chain yield issues and intersects with the asset distribution systems traditionally held by conventional finance.

In the past, global users wanting to buy U.S. stocks typically could not avoid brokerage accounts. Opening accounts, KYC, funding, foreign exchange, trading, settlement, and custody—all processes are completed within the traditional financial system.

For brokerages, stock trading itself is just the surface; what truly matters is the user relationship and asset accumulation. As long as user assets remain in the brokerage account, businesses such as margin financing, securities lending, and wealth management can continue to revolve around that account.

The change brought about by U.S. stock tokenization is that the pathways for users to access U.S. stock assets are beginning to multiply. Users may not have to rely solely on traditional brokerage accounts to access U.S. stocks, but could also gain exposure through exchanges, wallets, and on-chain applications.

This does not imply that brokerages will be immediately replaced, but the asset, trading, and distribution entries that were once concentrated within brokerage accounts are beginning to spill over.

This is why Ondo, xStocks, and NYSE are competing from different directions. What they are competing for is not a specific stock token but the new distribution positions for U.S. assets: whoever can bring traditional financial assets to more users has the opportunity to become the next generation of asset entry.

3. Ondo, xStocks, NYSE: Three Routes of U.S. Stock Tokenization

On the surface, Ondo, xStocks, and NYSE are all engaging in U.S. stock tokenization, but they actually represent three completely different routes.

These three routes also very likely determine what on-chain U.S. stocks will become in the future.

1. Ondo: Starting from RWA Products to Create an On-Chain Financial Asset Platform

Ondo does not merely aim to be a trading entry for U.S. stocks; it aims to be the issuer and distributor as well. It is more like a middle layer bridging traditional finance and on-chain dapps: one end connects to U.S. stocks, while the other links to wallets.

This logic differs from that of traditional brokerages. The core of traditional brokerages is the account system. Users open an account, buy stocks, and their assets remain in the brokerage and custodial systems. Trading, dividends, taxation, and margin trading all occur around this account.

What Ondo seeks to achieve is to transform these traditional assets into on-chain accessible, transferable, and combinable asset exposures.

This means that U.S. stocks and ETFs are no longer just holdings in the user's brokerage account but could potentially enter wallets, DEXs, lending protocols, on-chain asset management products, and more DeFi scenarios.

The advantages of Ondo's approach are evident:

• It's more aligned with DeFi's composability.
• It can serve the demand of global non-U.S. users for U.S. stocks, U.S. Treasuries, and other assets.
• It is easier to integrate with on-chain lending, stablecoins, yield products, and institutional wallets.

However, its problems are equally apparent.

Products like Ondo require an extremely complex legal, compliance, and custodial structure. What users actually acquire is often not traditional stock account assets but economically exposed assets packaged through the issuing entity and legal structure.

Thus, Ondo is more about creating an on-chain entry for traditional assets rather than completely reproducing a traditional brokerage account.

2. xStocks: Starting from the Trading Entry to Facilitate Stock Exposure on Chain

xStocks takes a path that focuses on the trading entry. The emphasis is on directly placing tokenized stocks on established trading platforms like Kraken, Bybit, and KuCoin, where users are already familiar.

Of course, xStocks and traditional stocks still represent different things; users gain price exposure rather than full shareholder rights.

It addresses the convenience of trading U.S. stocks but has yet to solve deeper issues such as voting, company actions, and shareholder rights.

Furthermore, products like xStocks face counterparty and custodial risks. Even if the products emphasize underlying asset support, users depend not only on the on-chain tokens themselves but also on whether the issuer holds the corresponding assets as per regulations, the transparency of custodial arrangements, the stability of trading platforms, and whether the redemption and liquidity mechanisms operate normally under extreme market conditions.

This distinction highlights one of the biggest differences between U.S. stock tokenization and directly holding traditional stocks.

In a brokerage account, users are presented with a mature system for securities registration, custody, and investor protection. In contrast, trading tokenized stocks on a crypto exchange requires users to understand the relationships between the issuer, custodian, trading platform, and on-chain contracts.

Thus, xStocks' advantage lies in providing a faster, more direct trading entry, but whether it can evolve from a trading product into a more mature on-chain stock network ultimately depends on the underlying asset transparency, custodial structure, and the capacity to ensure payouts under extreme circumstances.

3. NYSE: Starting from Traditional Market Infrastructure to Create a Regulated Digital Securities Platform

NYSE's route is distinct from both Ondo and xStocks.

While Ondo and xStocks stem from the crypto world to bring U.S. stocks and ETFs on-chain, NYSE begins from within the traditional securities market, aiming to chainify the underlying elements such as trading, settlement, registration, and recognition of rights.

In March 2026, ICE/NYSE signed a memorandum of cooperation with Securitize to build a more comprehensive market infrastructure for tokenized securities, including securities registration, transfer agency, tokenized issuance, and regulatory, operational, and technical standards for the institutional-grade digital securities market.

This marks the most significant distinction between NYSE's route and on-chain projects.

For NYSE, on-chain stocks are not just about capturing prices. NYSE intends to tackle deeper issues within the securities market: after stocks are tokenized, who will confirm the rights of holders? Who will register and transfer them? How will settlement be conducted after a trade? How will traditional securities processes like dividends, voting, and company actions be continued?

This also implies that NYSE's route won't be as fast as crypto-native projects. It requires regulatory approval, coordination among traditional financial institutions, and must be compatible with existing securities market rules. Even if it eventually materializes, it will likely not transition fully into a permissionless and highly open DeFi model.

4. Current Status of the Three Routes: Ondo and xStocks are Distributing, NYSE is Reinforcing Rules

If chapter three discussed the distinctions of the three routes, the current progress shows they have taken different paces: Ondo is expanding distribution channels, xStocks is generating trading volume in CEX, and NYSE is advancing at the rule and infrastructure level.

1. Ondo: From Tokenized U.S. Treasuries to an On-Chain Distribution Network for U.S. Stocks and ETFs

Compared to earlier tokenized U.S. Treasury products, Ondo Global Markets has expanded its asset range to include U.S. stocks and ETFs.

More importantly, these assets are not just remaining on Ondo's platform, but are beginning to enter more wallets, trading platforms, and on-chain entries.

A crucial milestone is the integration with Binance Wallet.

In November 2025, Ondo announced that its 100+ tokenized stocks & ETFs were integrated with Binance Wallet, opening access to users of Binance Wallet.

By February 2026, Binance further added 10 Ondo tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs into Binance Alpha and Binance Wallet, including AAPLon, GOOGLon, TSLAon, NVDAon, QQQon, and others.

This signifies that Ondo is transitioning from a single platform to larger traffic entrances. Users do not necessarily need to access Ondo's platform directly; they might access related assets through entrances like Binance Wallet and Binance Alpha.

The asset scale of Ondo Global Markets continues to grow. In May 2026, Ondo announced that Ondo Global Markets' TVL surpassed $1 billion, making it the first tokenized stocks platform to reach this scale.

2. xStocks: Faster Exchange Integration, Becoming the U.S. Stock Trading Entry in the Crypto World

xStocks has now entered stock token entry across multiple exchanges.

Kraken is one of the most significant platforms among them. According to Kraken, xStocks currently supports tokenized versions of over 100 U.S. stocks and ETFs; since its launch in June 2025, the total trading volume has exceeded $25 billion.

Besides Kraken, exchanges like Bybit and KuCoin have also successively integrated xStocks. With more platforms joining, xStocks has transitioned from being an experimental product in a single platform to becoming a tokenized stock solution that multiple CEXs adopt.

From the current progress, the achievements of xStocks are mainly reflected in three aspects:

• More trading entry points
• Increased asset coverage
• Trading volume has already begun to materialize

From this perspective, xStocks has preliminarily validated the demand for U.S. stock tokens in the CEX scenario.

3. NYSE: Slower Progress, But Moving Closer to Tokenized Securities from a Regulatory Perspective

NYSE has not yet generated user trading volume like Ondo or xStocks; its progress primarily occurs at the regulatory and infrastructure levels.

In December 2025, DTC received a SEC Staff No-Action Letter, permitting it to provide tokenization services for assets it custodies under certain conditions.

Subsequently, NYSE also began advancing its platform. In January 2026, ICE/NYSE announced the development of a tokenized securities platform, planning to support 24/7 trading, instant settlement, dollar amount ordering, and stablecoin funding channels, but the platform still requires regulatory approval.

In March 2026, NYSE signed a memorandum of cooperation with Securitize to promote digital transfer agency and tokenized issuance, as well as regulatory, operational, and technical standards needed for institution-grade digital securities markets.

This month, NYSE Texas submitted Rule 7.39 changes related to "Tokenized Securities," permitting participants that meet DTC Pilot Program conditions to trade tokenized forms of DTC eligible securities on the exchange.

At the current stage, NYSE's U.S. stock tokenization plan has not yet entered a full launch phase. A more realistic timetable suggests there may first be a small-scale pilot in the second half of 2026. However, forming stable trading volumes and integrating more brokerages and users might take until 2027 and beyond.

The regulatory framework for digital assets in the U.S. is also moving in this direction. In May 2026, the CLARITY Act clearly pointed in one direction: when securities are tokenized, they will not sever from existing securities market rules simply because they are on-chain, but must seek new trading, settlement, and disclosure methods within the existing securities regulatory framework.

5. Conclusion: The Next Step for RWA is to Make Finance No Longer Divided by Borders

The most interesting aspect of U.S. stock tokenization is not just that users have another entry point to buy U.S. stocks but that traditional financial assets are beginning to enter a more open liquidity network.

When U.S. stocks, U.S. Treasuries, and ETFs can be purchased with stablecoins, held in wallets, and distributed by exchanges, they cease to be merely assets in a brokerage account but begin to possess stronger global liquidity.

In the short term, Ondo and xStocks may progress faster. They are more aligned with crypto users and can more easily generate early liquidity through wallets, CEXs, and on-chain applications. For users, these products primarily address the question of "Can I access U.S. stock exposure more conveniently?”

However, in the long run, regulatory infrastructure routes like NYSE will not be absent.

If DTC, NYSE, Securitize, and related regulatory frameworks gradually mature, tokenized securities may no longer just be price exposures on-chain but start to approach digital asset forms recognized by traditional securities markets. At that stage, on-chain projects will face challenges not of "Are there users trading?" but rather of whether they can connect with clearer registration, custody, settlement, and rights confirmation systems.

Thus, U.S. stock tokenization may not end up being a zero-sum game between crypto routes and TradFi routes.

A more likely outcome is that projects like Ondo and xStocks will first educate users, generate liquidity, and create use cases, while in the long term, traditional infrastructures like NYSE and DTC will fill in regulatory, settlement, and rights confirmation gaps.

By that time, if crypto projects wish to remain central, they cannot just serve as front-end trading entrances but must form deeper connections with the regulated underlying market structures.

This also determines the future competitive focus for RWA.

It's not simply about moving a few stocks on-chain but about who can find a balance between open liquidity and compliant infrastructure, allowing traditional financial assets to truly enter a more global and trustworthy digital market.