ONDO Finance has recruited Eric Pollackov, formerly the global head of ETF capital markets at Invesco, as the tokenized asset platform continues its aggressive push to bring traditional investment products onchain.

Pollackov departed Invesco in May 2026. His arrival at Ondo represents a pattern that’s becoming hard to ignore: seasoned finance executives are no longer just advising crypto firms from the sidelines. They’re joining them.

Why traditional finance talent is flowing into tokenization

Ondo Finance operates the Global Markets platform, which focuses on tokenizing stocks and ETFs with pricing and liquidity designed to mirror traditional brokerages. The platform has crossed a meaningful threshold. Its total value locked now exceeds $1 billion, a milestone that puts Ondo in rare company among real-world asset (RWA) tokenization protocols.

ETF capital markets is an intensely specialized discipline. It involves managing the creation and redemption process, ensuring tight spreads, coordinating with authorized participants, and navigating regulatory plumbing that most crypto-native builders have never touched.

Ondo’s existing product suite already includes USDY, a tokenized yield-bearing note, and OUSG, which provides exposure to US Treasuries. Both support permissionless trading and can serve as collateral in DeFi applications. You can’t post a Treasury bill as collateral on Aave. You can post OUSG.

The Franklin Templeton partnership and what it unlocked

Pollackov’s hire comes after Ondo struck a partnership with Franklin Templeton in March 2026 to tokenize five ETFs. Franklin Templeton manages roughly $1.7 trillion in assets, making it one of the largest asset managers to put real products on a blockchain-native platform.

Those five tokenized ETFs represent the first Franklin Templeton-managed funds available onchain, giving investors continuous trading access rather than the 9:30-to-4 window that traditional exchanges enforce.

Ondo has also built out its backend integrations to support institutional-grade offerings. Broadridge provides asset voting capabilities for tokenized securities on the platform. Chainlink supplies equity price feeds, ensuring that onchain pricing stays anchored to real-time market data.

Leadership changes and what investors should watch

Following the tragic passing of founder Nathan Allman in May 2026, Ian De Bode stepped into the CEO role. The Pollackov hire under his leadership reinforces that the strategic direction hasn’t wavered.

The risk, as always, is regulatory. Tokenized securities exist in a gray zone in most jurisdictions, and the SEC’s posture toward onchain investment products remains unpredictable. A platform that looks and functions like a brokerage may eventually be regulated like one, which would impose compliance costs that could erode the efficiency gains blockchain is supposed to deliver.