Ondo Private Markets will initially offer a tokenized note referencing an unnamed pre-IPO artificial intelligence company, with secondary-market trading expected to begin this week. Ondo plans to add exposure to companies across robotics, cybersecurity, biotech, infrastructure, defense, energy and space.
The structure is important: investors are not buying shares in the referenced private company. Each token represents an obligation of the note issuer, with its eventual payout linked to the per-share value realized on the referenced company’s common stock at a qualifying liquidity event. Holders receive no ownership, voting or other shareholder rights in the underlying business.
How Do Ondo’s Private-Market Tokens Work?
The notes are designed to turn exposure that would normally remain locked inside private-market structures into an asset that can move between eligible investors onchain. Ondo says holders can keep the tokens in self-custody wallets and trade them around the clock on secondary markets rather than waiting for the underlying company to complete an IPO or another liquidity event.
The distinction between economic exposure and ownership creates a different risk profile from directly holding private-company shares. An investor’s claim is against the issuer of the note, while the payout mechanism references the value eventually realized on the target company’s shares.
That makes the legal structure, issuer creditworthiness, valuation methodology and definition of a qualifying liquidity event particularly important. Secondary-market prices could also diverge from the latest implied valuation of the private company because there is no continuously traded underlying stock providing an observable reference price.
The approach resembles a wider industry effort to make private-market exposure more tradable. FinanceFeeds previously reported that Citigroup was developing blockchain-based access to private-company shares, initially for foreign investors, as financial institutions look for ways to bring an historically illiquid asset class onto digital infrastructure.
Investor Takeaway
The token should not be analyzed as if it were conventional private-company equity. Investors gain economic exposure through a note issued by another entity, adding issuer and structural risk alongside the valuation risk of the referenced company.
Does 24/7 Trading Solve Private Markets’ Liquidity Problem?
Ondo is targeting one of the main constraints of private investing: investors can often enter a company years before an IPO but have limited opportunities to exit. The company argues that transferable tokens can create a secondary market where eligible holders adjust positions without waiting for the reference company itself to go public.
Blockchain transferability, however, does not guarantee deep liquidity. A market can trade 24/7 while still having limited buyers, wide spreads or sharp price movements, particularly when the underlying private company’s valuation changes only during funding rounds or other infrequent transactions.
Ondo also describes the notes as composable, potentially allowing them to be used elsewhere in decentralized finance. Whether meaningful lending, collateral or derivatives markets form around the assets will depend on liquidity, integrations and how external protocols assess the additional risks created by private-company valuation and note-issuer exposure.
Other crypto platforms are also testing demand for private-company products. FinanceFeeds reported earlier this year that Bitget launched a pre-IPO platform beginning with a token linked to SpaceX exposure, another structure that provided market exposure without giving holders direct ownership of the referenced company’s shares.
Investor Takeaway
Tokenization removes some operational barriers to transferring private-market exposure, but it does not create liquidity by itself. Trading volume, market depth and the reliability of reference valuations will determine whether 24/7 availability translates into a practical exit route.
Why Is Ondo Moving Beyond Public Tokenized Stocks?
The private-market launch extends an infrastructure buildout that has accelerated throughout 2026. Ondo says its tokenized stocks and Treasury products together now account for $3.7 billion in total value locked and more than 1 million cumulative holders.
The company has also been developing more direct connections between blockchain tokens and conventional securities infrastructure. In September, Ondo introduced in-kind conversions between traditional shares and tokenized stocks through Alpaca, allowing approved institutions to move between the two forms without first converting positions into cash.
Its U.S. strategy is developing separately. Ondo’s Oasis Pro Markets subsidiary received additional FINRA authorizations this year covering tokenized equities and funds, as FinanceFeeds reported in July. Ondo Private Markets, by contrast, is being offered only to eligible non-U.S. persons in permitted jurisdictions.
Investor Takeaway
Ondo is moving from tokenizing liquid public securities toward assets where blockchain-based transferability could have a larger effect on market access. The harder test will be whether tokenized private-company notes can develop reliable pricing and sufficient secondary liquidity without the continuous price discovery available in public equities.
What Comes Next?
The identity of the first AI company has not been disclosed, making the product’s specific valuation and liquidity characteristics difficult to assess before trading begins. Ondo has also not yet detailed the timetable for subsequent private-company launches.
The first market will therefore provide an early test of whether demand for high-profile pre-IPO exposure can support an active onchain secondary market. Investors will need to watch not only the referenced company’s valuation but also note liquidity, issuer terms and the difference between the token’s trading price and the economic value it is ultimately designed to track.
