Ondo Finance Introduces Proxy Voting for $700 Million in Tokenized Equities

In a bid to bridge the gap between traditional and tokenized equities, Ondo Finance has introduced a proxy voting feature, enabling investors to participate in corporate decision-making. The new feature, developed in collaboration with Broadridge Financial Solutions, allows holders of over 250 tokenized securities to review company documents and cast votes via Broadridge's ProxyVote system. By logging in with their crypto wallets, investors can access tools and documents typically reserved for traditional brokerage accounts. This move is significant in the rapidly growing tokenized equities sector, which has seen its value triple to over $1.1 billion in the past year. As the largest issuer in this sector, Ondo Finance has tokenized over $700 million in stocks and ETFs on its Global Markets platform. The introduction of proxy voting addresses a key limitation of tokenized equities, which often lack basic governance rights. Although Ondo's tokens do not grant direct shareholder rights, the new system enables investors to express their preferences, which Ondo can then apply when voting on the underlying shares. According to Matthieu de Vergnes, Ondo's global head of institutional, this development aligns with the company's vision of making traditional financial assets more accessible. "This combines the benefits of on-chain assets, such as free transferability and DeFi compatibility, with the governance rights associated with the underlying assets," he said. Broadridge, a leading processor of proxy votes in traditional markets, is extending its infrastructure to support blockchain-based systems. The goal is to provide a unified workflow for both digital and conventional assets, ensuring the same level of auditability, transparency, and compliance. As Danielle Gurrieri, senior vice president and head of product management at Broadridge, noted, "This will go a long way in making the tokenized world more scalable and trustworthy for investors."