S&P Global completes acquisition of blockchain security firm OpenZeppelin
The ratings giant now owns the company behind the smart contract libraries securing many of the largest stablecoins and tokenized funds.
S&P Global has completed its acquisition of OpenZeppelin, bringing smart contract security and blockchain infrastructure expertise into its digital asset risk assessment operations. The acquisition, announced in September, is intended to help the company assess technology risks underlying onchain financial products and develop new security assessments and benchmarks as capital markets adopt blockchain technology. S&P Global did not disclose the financial terms and said the transaction is not expected to have a material impact on its financial results.
OpenZeppelin was founded in 2015 and provides security assessments, secure development services and OpenZeppelin Contracts, a widely used open-source smart contract library. The company’s security team has completed more than 900 engagements and uncovered over 10,000 vulnerabilities before production. Its contracts underpin more than $38 trillion in value transferred, including through major stablecoins and tokenized funds.
OpenZeppelin will operate as its own business unit under its existing name, with founder Demian Brener continuing to lead the business and reporting to S&P Global Ratings President Yann Le Pallec. The companies said the deal combines OpenZeppelin’s technical expertise with S&P Global’s institutional reach to help traditional finance firms and decentralized finance businesses understand and manage onchain risks. OpenZeppelin Contracts will remain open source, free and publicly maintained.