Ondo Finance (ONDO) shared that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ended its confidential probe into ONDO, with no intentions to press any legal charges.

SEC Closes Investigation Into Ondo Finance

The US SEC has wrapped up a previously undisclosed inquiry into Ondo Finance without pursuing any enforcement action, the company announced Monday. Ondo characterized the outcome as a significant win for both the firm and the broader movement toward regulated tokenization in the US.

“The path is now clearer than ever for tokenized Treasuries and tokenized equities to become core components of US capital markets. The future of global finance will be onchain, and Ondo will help lead that transition”, Ondo Finance wrote in an X post on Monday.

The investigation, which began during the Biden administration’s intensified focus on digital asset oversight, centered on whether Ondo’s model for issuing tokenized representations of real-world assets (RWA) met federal securities standards. Regulators also examined the legal status of the ONDO token, evaluating whether it should be classified as a security.

During that time, Ondo had emerged as one of the only companies offering large-scale tokenization of publicly traded equities and had begun to see uptake from institutional and international investors. “Being early and being successful came with scrutiny”, the company noted.

Ondo said it cooperated fully throughout the process and consistently argued that its framework was designed with compliance and investor safeguards in mind. The conclusion of the inquiry, memorialized in a formal notice from the SEC, “is a meaningful milestone not just for Ondo, but for the broader tokenization industry”, the firm wrote in a blog post.

Ondo said it plans to continue building within the regulatory perimeter, emphasizing that its strategy will remain anchored in innovation, compliance, risk management, and investor protection.

Following the announcement, ONDO rallied 4.5% in the past 24 hours.

SEC Decision Follows Positive Regulatory Environment

The SEC’s approach to digital asset oversight has undergone a major strategic shift in the wake of the presidential transition earlier this year. With Donald Trump taking office in January 2025 and Paul Atkins assuming leadership of the agency, the regulator has moved away from a litigation-heavy strategy toward a framework built around industry guidance and regulatory clarity.

In the second quarter of 2025, the SEC dismantled its dedicated crypto enforcement division and introduced a new Crypto Task Force, tasked with developing policy, drafting rules, and collaborating with market participants. The pivot reflects a broader change in priorities under the new administration, which has promoted a more market-friendly stance on digital assets through executive actions supportive of innovation.

The change represents a clear departure from the previous era under Chair Gary Gensler, whose tenure was defined by enforcement actions, legal disputes, and a more confrontational posture toward the sector. By contrast, the current leadership has positioned rulemaking, rather than lawsuits, as the core mechanism for addressing regulatory gaps in the crypto ecosystem.

SEC Chair Promotes Tokenization as Strategic Priority

SEC Chair Paul Atkins has positioned tokenization as a core area of financial innovation that the agency intends to support. Speaking in a July 2025 television interview, Atkins said the regulator’s mandate should include helping modernize markets, contrasting his approach with the more combative posture that defined previous leadership.

He said the commission aims to set clear expectations so companies can develop compliant crypto products without uncertainty.

Atkins has tied tokenization to the SEC’s broader reform program, dubbed “Project Crypto”, which seeks to establish rules for how digital assets are issued, safeguarded, and traded. At a May 2025 policy event, he highlighted plans for blockchain-based versions of conventional financial instruments and a classification system that separates investment contracts from other types of tokens.

Subsequent statements in November indicated the regulator is exploring streamlined disclosure requirements and regulatory pathways to help tokenized assets operate within US markets.