On July 22, 2025, 21Shares filed an S-1 registration with the SEC for the 21Shares Ondo Trust, a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) tracking Ondo (ONDO), the native token of the Ondo Finance DeFi protocol, per bitcoinethereumnews.com. According to theblock.co, the ETF will hold ONDO directly, monitoring the CME CF Ondo Finance-Dollar Reference Rate and using Coinbase Custody for safekeeping. It will not use leverage or engage in speculating. ONDO’s price surged 2.3% to $1.08, with a $3.44B market cap and $343M daily trading volume, per bitcoinethereumnews.com. X posts from @martypartymusic highlight this as the first ERC-20 spot ETF filing, potentially opening doors for non-L1 tokens.
Ondo Finance, founded in 2021 by ex-Goldman Sachs associates, focuses on tokenizing real-world assets (RWAs) like U.S. Treasuries on its layer-1 Ondo Chain, per theblock.co. Its $3.5B market cap and 3.1B circulating tokens (out of 10B) make it a DeFi leader, though it’s down 48% from its $2.14 peak, per CoinGecko. World Liberty Financial, linked to the Trump family, holds 342,000 ONDO ($383,000), a small 0.2% of its $208M portfolio, per Nansen. Ondo’s acquisition of Oasis Pro, an SEC-registered broker-dealer, and a $250M RWA fund with Pantera Capital signal an “arms race” for institutional tokenization, per crypto.news. Plans to tokenize more than 100 stocks and ETFs are mentioned in X posts from @OndoFinance.
The RWA market has grown 58% to $25B in 2025, with Ethereum hosting 55% of tokenized assets like private credit and Treasuries, per RWA.xyz. 21Shares’ filing, alongside its Dogecoin, XRP, Solana, and Polkadot ETF applications, reflects a broader push for altcoin ETFs under a crypto-friendly SEC led by Paul Atkins, per coinjournal.net. Bloomberg analysts estimate a 90% approval chance for Solana ETFs and 85% for XRP, with ONDO’s filing benefiting from regulatory tailwinds, per coinjournal.net. However, ONDO’s volatility and unregistered status as a non-security pose risks, per bitcoinethereumnews.com. X posts from @nottellingyou73 note heavy institutional buying post-filing.
ONDO’s $1.08 price could test $1.20–$1.30 if ETF hype persists, but a drop below $0.98 risks $0.80, per TradingView. Investors should monitor ONDO’s $3.44B market cap and RWA adoption via RWA.xyz. The ETF, pending SEC approval, could drive inflows, but no launch date is set, per bitcoinethereumnews.com. Diversify into ETH ($3,811) or SOL ($197.50) to hedge volatility, per CoinMarketCap, and track @OndoFinance on X for updates. US tariffs or Fed policy shifts could impact DeFi, per Reuters, but ONDO’s institutional ties and RWA focus position it for growth. Keep an eye out for market corrections and regulatory hold-ups.
