Nathan Allman is the founder and CEO of Ondo Finance, a tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) platform created to broaden access to DeFi yields and cater to users with different risk preferences. ^[1]

Education

Allman graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Biology. ^[1]

Career

Allman worked as an associate at Prospect Capital Management, an alternative asset manager, for one year. He then became a partner at ChainStreet Capital, a quantitative cryptocurrency hedge fund, and held the position until 2019. He then worked at Goldman Sachs, focusing on creating cryptocurrency market services. In 2021, he left the company and founded Ondo Finance. ^[1]

Ondo Finance

In an interview with UMA Protocol, Allman discussed starting Ondo Finance, the company’s goals and purpose, and future plans. During his introduction, he briefly explained his history in finance: ^[2]

“In terms of my background, I come from a traditional finance background. I began my career in private credit and private equity investing but quickly transitioned into crypto after college. I was actively trading throughout 2017, investing in ICOs, and exploring early DeFi platforms like dydx. Subsequently, I launched a crypto hedge fund, which I managed from 2018 to 2019. In mid-2019, I joined Goldman Sachs on their digital assets team, where I handled various crypto and blockchain-related projects, including work on security tokens. As crypto markets picked up in mid-2020, my focus shifted to building components of a crypto prime brokerage desk, helping institutions tap into yields from the space.”

He then talked about how his experience led him to start Ondo: ^[2]

“I also actively participated in DeFi, managing a personal portfolio of liquidity pools on platforms like Uniswap and SushiSwap, while seeking ways to hedge out underlying risks. I explored impermanent loss and engaged with several institutions facing similar challenges. This led to the concept of creating a risk marketplace where investors can transfer underlying risks from a pooled asset set to others willing to take on higher risk for potentially higher returns. We structured products with fixed and variable tranches, offering different risk levels. After leaving Goldman Sachs in February, I focused full-time on building this concept. We launched on the Ethereum mainnet in August, initially on Uniswap and SushiSwap. Our platform facilitates risk transformation into high and low-risk exposures and enables single-sided liquidity provision, allowing investors to access dual-sided liquidity pools for indirect exposure to yields from various assets like UMA and Ether.”

When asked why he left traditional finance to move to DeFi, he responded: ^[2]

“What excited me most about founding something in this space was witnessing and participating in the DeFi explosion throughout 2020. Observing the market inefficiencies, particularly the mismatch in single asset yields and the yields derived from dual asset liquidity pools, inspired the creation of Ondo Trojans. These trojans effectively capitalize on that disparity. There's vast unexplored potential in bringing over various traditional financial products into DeFi, with structured products being just one example.”

Panels

Tokenizing RWAs

At TOKEN2049 in 2023, Allman discussed the company's focus on tokenizing securities, particularly cash equivalents like treasury bills and money market funds. He emphasized the benefits of bringing off-chain assets on-chain, such as 24/7 trading and enhanced liquidity, while highlighting the importance of transparency and efficiency in the financial system. Allman noted that despite the longstanding concept of tokenization, current market conditions and technological advancements make it more viable, aiming to integrate these tokenized assets into DeFi protocols for broader use as collateral. However, he acknowledged this emerging sector's liquidity and regulatory compliance challenges. ^[3]