Ondo Finance has confirmed that founder and chief executive Nathan Allman has died unexpectedly at the age of 32. The company announced the news on X and said Allman’s family has asked for privacy. Ondo President Ian De Bode has immediately assumed the CEO role to keep operations running without interruption.
In its statement, the company said Allman’s intelligence, humility, and drive shaped every part of Ondo. It added that his belief in technology as a way to build a more open and accessible financial system will continue through the products and infrastructure the firm is building. Ondo did not disclose a cause of death.
From Goldman Sachs to building a tokenization platform
Before launching Ondo Finance, Allman worked on Goldman Sachs’ digital assets team, where he gained experience at the intersection of traditional finance and crypto. Earlier in his career, he also founded the crypto hedge fund ChainStreet Capital, which focused on algorithmic and event-driven trading strategies.
Allman founded Ondo Finance in 2021, entering the market for tokenized real-world assets. The company has since brought more than $3.86 billion in RWAs on-chain and serves over 111,000 token holders, according to the source material. That push into tokenization also drew attention from Wall Street firms including BlackRock, which have viewed the technology as a way to improve trading and settlement efficiency.
Leadership transition begins immediately
After the announcement, Ondo said it already had an operational structure in place for continuity. De Bode stepped into the CEO position at once. In remarks cited by CoinTelegraph, he said it was an extremely painful day for Ondo Finance and described Allman as not only an outstanding founder and visionary, but also a close friend.
De Bode also said, “Ondo’s mission, which was Nate’s mission, will not change.” He added that the company will continue executing at the standard Allman expected and will keep advancing its core tokenized RWA strategy, including partnerships with JPMorgan and Mastercard that were established during Allman’s tenure.
Tributes from the company and industry figures
Ben Grossman, Ondo’s vice president and head of marketing, wrote on X that Allman was a “once-in-a-century founder and dreamer,” adding that his intellect, vision, and drive shaped the industry and the people around him. Ondo said in its own statement that the scale of his impact on the company and the broader sector cannot be overstated.
Ondo, one of the better-known companies in the RWA segment, is now moving through a leadership handoff. What is already clear is that the management transition has been made and the company intends to continue with its existing business roadmap and institutional partnerships.