Ondo Finance founder Nathan Allman dies at 32; Ian De Bode named CEO

Nathan Allman, 32, founder of Ondo Finance, died unexpectedly, the company announced on X. The firm did not disclose a cause of death and gave no additional details about the circumstances.

Allman launched Ondo in 2021 after working on the digital assets team at Goldman Sachs. Under his leadership, Ondo brought roughly $3.86 billion of real-world assets on-chain, including U.S. Treasuries, equities and commodities, with more than 111,000 holders of those tokenized products.

Ian De Bode will take over as chief executive officer. De Bode joined Ondo as chief strategy officer in March 2024 after leading McKinsey’s digital-assets work and was promoted to president in November 2025. He has been responsible for the firm’s strategy, product and daily operations for over two years and will assume CEO duties immediately, the company said.

In a post on X, Ondo wrote: “Nate’s brilliance, humility, and drive shaped every part of what Ondo is today. His belief in the power of technology to create a more open, accessible financial system lives on in everything we build. The impact he had on this industry, and on all of us personally, cannot be overstated. We will continue building what Nate started. That is the most meaningful way we know to honor him.”

Ondo said its leadership team remains in place and that the firm will continue managing its on-chain assets and client relationships. The company provided no information about public memorial plans and did not announce any changes to its business strategy.

Allman was a visible figure in the market for tokenized real-world assets, a sector that converts traditional financial instruments into blockchain-based tokens. His death removes a founder and public face of Ondo as the company continues operating its tokenization products.