Ondo Finance (ONDO) said founder and chief executive Nathan Allman died unexpectedly, naming longtime president Ian De Bode as CEO with immediate effect.
Key Points:
- Ondo Finance announced the sudden death of founder Nathan Allman, with no cause disclosed.
- Longtime president Ian De Bode steps in as chief executive immediately.
- Allman built Ondo into a leading tokenized real-world asset platform, with about $3.86 billion in assets brought on-chain.
Ondo Confirms Founder's Death
Ondo Finance shared the news in a statement on X on Monday, calling Allman's passing a profound loss for the company and the wider digital asset industry.
The firm did not disclose a cause of death. Allman was 32.
De Bode, who has run strategy, product, and daily operations for more than two years, takes over as chief executive. The company said he holds the full confidence of its leadership team.
"It's been an incredibly sad day for Ondo Finance," De Bode told Cointelegraph, adding that Allman was both a visionary founder and a close personal friend.
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Allman's RWA Legacy
Allman founded Ondo in 2021 after working on Goldman Sachs' digital assets team, building the company into one of the largest platforms for tokenized real-world assets.
Under his leadership, Ondo helped bring roughly $3.86 billion in tokenized U.S. Treasuries, stocks, and commodities on-chain, with more than 111,680 holders of its products.
Tributes arrived quickly from across crypto and traditional finance. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao called Allman a pioneer in real-world assets, while Compound founder Robert Leshner offered condolences to the team and family.
The breadth of those messages reflected a rare position. Allman earned respect from crypto-native builders and Wall Street institutions alike.
ONDO Token Steady
The ONDO governance token traded near $0.43 in the day after the announcement, down about 3% over 24 hours, according to CoinGecko.
Ondo's rise tracked a sharp expansion in tokenized finance. The company moved early into tokenized Treasuries in 2023, then widened its lineup to stablecoins, equities, and exchange-traded funds, securing ties with firms such as BlackRock, JPMorgan, and Franklin Templeton as institutional demand for on-chain assets climbed through 2024 and 2025.
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