Ondo Finance (ONDO), a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol focused on tokenizing US treasuries, has witnessed a meteoric rise in its native token’s price over the past week. According to CoinMarketCap, although ONDO was only able to muster a meager 1.3% increase in the last day – yet pushing its value to a record-breaking $0.94 – the impressive feat comes on the heels of a 138% weekly gain, marking an impressive performance for the token.
ONDO Marks Banner Week With Big Numbers
ONDO doing things right on the weekly chart. Source: Coingecko
Analysts attribute this surge to a confluence of factors. Whale investors, known for their significant holdings and market influence, have been accumulating ONDO at a substantial clip. Data from on-chain tracking platform Lookonchain reveals that three whale wallets recently withdrew over 9 million ONDOs, worth around $9 million, from various exchanges. This behavior suggests a long-term bullish outlook on the token’s potential, potentially inciting a follow-the-leader mentality among retail investors.
Whales are accumulating #RWA token $ONDO!
Whale”0x56F9″ withdrew 6.53M $ONDO($5.88M) from #Bybit in the past month.
Fresh wallet”0x92dD” withdrew 1.98M $ONDO($1.78M) from #Gateio in the past hour.
Wallet”0xE6bf” withdrew 937,600 $ONDO($845K) from #Gateio 3 hours ago.
Address:… pic.twitter.com/o5jWqhresp
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) March 25, 2024
Indeed, Santiment data analyzed by NewsBTC shows a 30% increase in the total number of ONDO holders since March 19th, surpassing the 10,000 mark. This influx of new investors, likely influenced by the whales’ actions and the overall hype surrounding tokenization, has further fueled the token’s price rally.
Total crypto market cap at $2.5 trillion on the daily chart: TradingView.com
The recent surge in ONDO’s popularity coincides with a broader trend within the DeFi space. Last week, global investment giant BlackRock announced the creation of a tokenized fund on the Ethereum blockchain, allowing investors to earn US dollar yields through a decentralized platform. This move underscores the growing interest in tokenization, which involves representing real-world assets like securities, currencies, and real estate on a blockchain.
TVL Not Impressive Despite Weekly Rise
However, amidst the celebratory atmosphere surrounding the token’s price surge, a curious detail emerges. Despite the significant increase in ONDO’s value, the platform’s total value locked (TVL), a metric reflecting the total value of crypto assets deposited in its DeFi protocols, has remained relatively stagnant over the past week. While the reasons behind this discrepancy are unclear, it could be a cause for concern for some investors. A stagnant TVL might suggest that the recent price increase isn’t necessarily translating to increased usage of the Ondo Finance protocol itself.
Overall, the past week has been undeniably positive for Ondo Finance. The token’s impressive price surge, coupled with the current tokenization hype and strategic alignment with BlackRock’s recent venture, paints a promising picture for the future. However, the stagnant TVL serves as a reminder that long-term sustainability hinges not just on speculation but also on real-world adoption and the continued development of the Ondo Finance ecosystem.
Featured image from AlphaTradeZone/Pexels, chart from TradingView