“ETFs were referred to as weapons of mass destruction,” Hoffman mentioned, recalling the skepticism that surrounded the construction earlier than it turned one of many dominant methods traders entry markets.
When he joined the ETF business within the early 2000s, the market held roughly $200 billion in property, he mentioned. Immediately, it is practically a $20-trillion international asset class, in line with a PwC report.
He mentioned tokenization is following the same path, however a lot sooner than ETFs.
“Every market that digitizes gets larger,” he mentioned. “And tokenization is really the digitization of capital markets.”
Constructing for an agent-driven future
For Hoffman, tokenization will grow to be the inspiration for what comes subsequent: AI-driven monetary companies.
He mentioned he envisions a future the place autonomous brokers repeatedly monitor markets and allocate capital via professionally managed portfolios that replace in actual time as situations change.
“Our end state will be portfolios that are professionally managed, real-time and adjusting to market circumstances and data changes,” he mentioned.
To get there, the business first wants tokenized property, onchain prime-brokerage infrastructure and asset-management methods that may be executed natively on blockchain networks.
Ondo is constructing towards that imaginative and prescient, he mentioned. The agency already presents tokenized U.S. Treasury merchandise and plans to develop into shares, ETFs and perpetual futures via its tokenized market.
