Ondo opens in-kind minting for Tokenized US stocks via Alpaca

Ondo Stocks, a tokenized-equities platform that crossed $1 billion in total value locked in May and now spans 440-plus U.S. stocks and ETFs, opened in-kind conversion between underlying shares and its tokens on September 21 through Alpaca's Instant Tokenization Network.

Under the prior cash-funded route, an institution that already held the underlying shares still had to source separate cash to mint tokens, Ondo said in its September 21 post, a setup that added financing costs and a timing mismatch between share inventory and tokenized positions. The in-kind path removes that step. An approved institution's shares move from its Alpaca account into Ondo's Alpaca account via an internal book transfer; Ondo then issues the matching Ondo Stocks tokens on the supported blockchain. Redemption reverses the flow.

What changes for tokenized-stock liquidity

Conversions are live on Ethereum and BNB Chain, per Ondo. Access is restricted to institutions that hold active accounts with both Ondo and Alpaca and complete the applicable onboarding, and approvals are granted case by case. The ITN is not a generally available Ondo Stocks feature. The full set of stocks and ETFs eligible for the in-kind flow has not been published.

Ondo frames the upgrade as a market-maker tool: letting desks use existing share inventory to replenish token supply, manage exposure and respond to demand should support tighter spreads and more depth across connected exchanges, wallets and DeFi apps in the Ondo Stocks ecosystem, the project said. Ondo Stocks already runs a just-in-time liquidity model that pulls each token's backing liquidity from its underlying exchange listing on Nasdaq or the NYSE, rather than from a standalone on-chain pool. Every token stays fully backed one-to-one by the underlying security, plus any cash in transit.

The plumbing behind the upgrade

Alpaca launched the Instant Tokenization Network in October 2025 to let institutions mint and redeem tokenized stocks against brokerage-held shares around the clock. The firm reported clearing or custodying roughly 94% of tokenized U.S. equities in its own market-share disclosure, covering products tied to Ondo, Binance and Dinari, among other platforms. Alpaca raised $135 million in July 2026 to expand its tokenized stock infrastructure, according to CoinDesk.

Ondo Stocks, previously branded Ondo Global Markets, first crossed $1 billion in total value locked in May 2026. Cumulative trading volume across Ethereum, BNB Chain and Solana has topped $20 billion, and the platform spans more than 440 tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs across those three chains, per Ondo. Ondo did not say whether Solana is supported for the new in-kind flow specifically, and The Defiant's September 23 coverage was paywalled, leaving the eligible universe for in-kind mints unconfirmed beyond Ondo's Ethereum and BNB Chain statement.