Nathan Allman, the founder and CEO of Ondo Finance and one of the pioneers of blockchain tokenization, has died aged 32.
“It is with profound sadness that we announce the unexpected passing of Nathan Allman, Ondo’s founder,” Ondo Finance said in an X post on Monday. “Our hearts are with his family and loved ones.”
“Nate’s brilliance, humility, and drive shaped every part of what Ondo is today,” Ondo said. “His belief in the power of technology to create a more open, accessible financial system lives on in everything we build. The impact he had on this industry, and on all of us personally, cannot be overstated.”
Allman was key in helping Ondo bring $3.86 billion worth of tokenized real-world assets on-chain in the form of US Treasuries, stocks and commodities. More than 111,680 token holders own a tokenized RWA issued by Ondo.
Nathan Allman (left) speaking at the Ninth Annual Fintech Conference in Philadelphia in November. Source: YouTube
The tokenization movement that Allman contributed to by founding Ondo in 2021 helped capture the attention of Wall Street giants such as BlackRock, who see potential in the technology to make trading and settlement more efficient.
Allman previously worked in Goldman Sachs’ digital asset team prior to founding Ondo. Before that, he founded the crypto hedge fund ChainStreet Capital, which focused on algorithmic, event-driven trading.
Ondo said that the company’s president, Ian De Bode, would serve as CEO.
“It’s been an incredibly sad day for Ondo Finance,” De Bode told Cointelegraph. “Nate was not only an incredible founder and visionary, but also a very close personal friend. He will be missed dearly.”
“The mission of Ondo, Nate’s mission, has not changed,” he added. “If Nate were here, he would want to continue executing with excellence. We will make him proud.”
Ondo vice president and head of marketing, Ben Grossman, said Allman “was a once-in-a-generation founder and visionary. He was absolutely brilliant, with a vision and drive that shaped the industry and everyone around him. He will be enormously missed.”
Ondo did not share further details on Allman’s death. An Ondo spokesperson said that Allman’s family has requested privacy at this time.