Ondo files SEC onchain platform

Ondo Finance asked United States Securities and Exchange Commission staff on April 13 to let it use Ethereum as a recordkeeping layer for tokenized stock claims. (sec.gov) The request is for a no-action letter, which is SEC staff guidance saying they would not recommend enforcement if a company follows the facts it described. Ondo said Alpaca would keep the official off-chain books and records, while Ethereum Mainnet would be used only for tokenized security entitlements. (investor.gov) (sec.gov) In plain language, Ondo is not asking to move the legal ownership record for stocks onto a public blockchain. It told the SEC the legal structure would stay inside the existing broker-dealer and Depository Trust Company system, with the blockchain used for reconciliation, collateral monitoring, and transfer functions around those claims. (sec.gov) That distinction matters because most United States investors already hold securities indirectly through brokers, not by appearing on an issuer’s shareholder list. Article 8 of the Uniform Commercial Code treats those positions as “security entitlements” held through intermediaries. (law.cornell.edu) (americanbar.org) Ondo’s filing says the model would keep fully paid and excess-margin securities at a “good control” location and would not change the legal character of the underlying securities or the investor protections attached to them. The company also said the setup would continue to rely on existing broker-dealer and transfer-agent supervision under Exchange Act Rules 17a-3, 17a-4, and 15c3-3. (sec.gov) The request builds on Ondo Global Markets, a platform Ondo and Alpaca launched in September 2025 to offer tokenized United States stocks and exchange-traded funds outside the United States. At launch, the companies said more than 100 assets were live, with plans to expand to more than 1,000 by the end of 2025. (businesswire.com) Ondo has also been building the disclosure side of the business. In February 2026, it said Ondo Global Markets had confidentially filed a registration statement with the SEC and had surpassed $500 million in total value locked and $9 billion in cumulative trading volume. (ondo.finance) The company is making the case that tokenized products can sit on public blockchains without replacing the regulated firms that already handle custody and records. That pitch lines up with other recent efforts to test tokenized entitlements inside the existing securities plumbing rather than outside it. (sec.gov) (fintechanddigitalassets.com) The next step is not a product launch but an SEC staff response. Until that arrives, Ondo’s filing is a public argument that Ethereum can be added to securities infrastructure without rewriting the rules that govern who owns what. (sec.gov)