#BTCWhaleMovement Crypto companies rush to tokenize traditional financial assets, but regulations are still unclear

Ondo Finance, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, acquired the tokenized asset firm Oasis Pro on Friday in an effort to expand its presence in the emerging real-world asset market.

"Oasis Pro was one of the first regulated alternative trading systems in the US authorized to support the settlement of digital securities in both fiat and stablecoins," Ondo Finance wrote.

Centrifuge, a blockchain firm focused on integrating real-world assets into DeFi protocols, announced plans on Tuesday to tokenize the S&P 500 stock index, a weighted collection of the 500 largest publicly traded companies in the US stock market.

In January, Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager with approximately $11.4 trillion in assets, urged the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve the tokenization of stocks and bonds.

John Murillo, business director of the fintech company B2BROKER, said that tokenized equity instruments are still in a regulatory gray area and lack many of the rights granted to traditional equity investors.

“There is no direct right over the company’s assets, nor voting rights, nor access to internal financial information,” the executive wrote in an email sent to Cointelegraph.

Investors must understand the fine print of each individual tokenized instrument they are considering to understand if there are cash flows, dividends, legal stipulations, or smart contract risks in any potential investment, added the executive.