This week, Ondo Global Markets received a permit that crypto startups have been chasing for the past five years. This is the right to offer tokenized versions of American stocks and ETFs to retail investors throughout the entire European Economic Area.
Instead of gaining access country by country, Ondo now has a so-called ‘passport’ that is valid in 30 jurisdictions — that’s more than 500 million potential users. The approval was not issued in the EU capital, but by Liechtenstein’s financial regulator (FMA). However, Liechtenstein is part of the EEA, which means the approval automatically extends to the entire bloc.
The transition of tokenized stocks from a niche to infrastructure
This step fits perfectly into Ondo’s strategy: to provide access to US financial markets without the need to open a brokerage account.
The company prepared for this launch in advance. First, it launched the tokenized stock platform on the Ethereum network, and then on BNB Chain. The last step was aimed at reaching retail markets in Asia and Latin America, where the BNB Chain ecosystem is especially popular.
Thanks to these preliminary launches, the infrastructure was already ready for the arrival of European users. Currently, the Ondo platform features more than 100 tokenized stocks and ETFs, and the total on-chain trading volume has reached hundreds of millions of dollars.
Simply put, Europe approved not just an idea, but an already functioning market.
Despite the regulatory breakthrough, the ONDO token has yet to show significant growth
At the time of publication, ONDO is trading around $0.5320, just 0.16% higher over the day, after a short-term drop to $0.526 amid volatility. The market capitalization is $1.68 billion, and the unlocked supply is estimated at $2.58 billion. The daily trading volume decreased by almost 10% — this may indicate that the market has not yet priced in the strategic importance of the regulatory approval.
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The technical picture remains bearish. RSI is at 32.63, indicating sustained selling pressure. MACD is also in the negative zone, although the narrowing histogram may signal weakening negative momentum. Fundamentally, Ondo is making a breakthrough, but the price has not yet reflected this.
Regulators approved a working product, not just an idea
If tokenization becomes a mass channel for distributing American financial products, the first-mover effect could be enormous. Now, Ondo has a license that allows it to become the main gateway for on-chain access to Wall Street, something no other project has yet managed to achieve at this scale.
Mass adoption will not depend on hype. The question is whether traditional investors will realize that ‘buying a stock through blockchain’ is the same as buying a regular stock. Just without the old settlement system and intermediaries.
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Now Ondo has a clear regulatory framework to test this hypothesis in a market of 500 million people.
