Ondo and Glider Unveil New Platform for Personalized Tokenized Equity Portfolios
Investors can now build and automatically rebalance blockchain-based stock portfolios with direct ownership of underlying assets.
A newly launched platform from Ondo Finance and Glider enables everyday investors to construct and manage automated portfolios of tokenized United States equities, providing direct access to stock markets without requiring traditional brokerage services.
The announcement reveals that users can design individualized collections of blockchain-based stocks that mirror real-world assets, eliminating requirements for digital wallets, blockchain transaction fees, or hands-on trade execution.
In a conversation with Cointelegraph, Glider's co-founder and CEO Brian Huang explained that the platform differs from conventional exchange-traded funds by allowing investors to build customized index-style portfolios with personalized asset allocations that maintain themselves automatically, rather than depending on pre-packaged investment products.
Through automated execution and rebalancing capabilities, the platform enables users to obtain exposure to tokenized equity assets without the need to manage individual transactions. These digital assets correspond to actual shares and offer trading opportunities outside conventional market operating hours.
Huang further explained that this approach overcomes the liquidity challenges that have hindered previous tokenized ETF products. He said:
This is the first time direct indexing has been offered for onchain stocks... The problem that all ETFs have had on chain is liquidity. There's no liquidity constraint on Glider because these are directly indexed. You hold the underlying assets and tap into their underlying liquidity.
The tokenized equities available through Ondo's platform are structured to replicate the pricing of their corresponding shares and support onchain transfers and trading, while Glider handles the automation of portfolio creation and rebalancing, removing the necessity for users to manually complete transactions.
The platform's initial launch will concentrate on tokenized United States stocks, with future expansion planned for other asset categories including commodities, alongside new functionality enabling users to engage in lending activities with their positions and earn yield from their investment holdings.
An Ondo spokesperson confirmed that the platform remains unavailable to users within the United States currently but noted the company maintains multiple SEC registrations, establishing groundwork for a possible future United States market entry.
Growth in tokenized stocks parallels crypto ETP market evolution
Both tokenized stock products and cryptocurrency exchange-traded products (ETPs) have experienced significant expansion throughout the previous year.
Information from RWA.xyz indicates the aggregate value of tokenized real-world assets (RWA) has increased substantially to approximately $26.5 billion, compared to roughly $7.5 billion during the same period last year. Within the onchain RWA category, tokenized stocks account for about $908.5 million.
Simultaneously, cryptocurrency ETPs have evolved beyond basic spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) products, with providers progressively developing more sophisticated and actively managed investment vehicles.
During February, cryptocurrency ETP provider 21Shares introduced a new investment vehicle granting European market participants exposure to preferred shares issued by Michael Saylor's Strategy, representing the largest publicly traded corporate Bitcoin holder. The 21Shares Strategy Yield ETP serves both institutional and retail investor segments and delivers dividends connected to Strategy's Bitcoin asset base.
Speaking with Cointelegraph, 21Shares president Duncan Moir explained the product enhances accessibility to Strategy's STRC preferred stock, which faces limited availability and challenging cross-listing procedures, while broadening distribution channels and market liquidity via its ETP framework.
Moir also noted that the structure streamlines tax compliance for European investors by managing reporting requirements and withholding obligations at the product level. Moir said:
It's probably the product we're seeing the most interest in across multiple regions. From the day we launched it, we've had more inbound inquiries to the sales team than for any crypto product, to be honest.
At the beginning of this month, BlackRock augmented its cryptocurrency product portfolio with a Nasdaq-listed investment vehicle connected to Ethereum staking activities. The iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHB) delivers spot Ether market exposure while creating opportunities for monthly income generation through staking a percentage of its asset holdings.
Nevertheless, Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock's head of digital assets, indicated the asset management giant intends to maintain a measured approach when expanding its cryptocurrency ETF product range, notwithstanding increasing market demand for more sophisticated investment structures.