Ondo Finance pulled off the first near-real-time cross-border redemption of a tokenized U.S. Treasury fund last week. The transaction, completed on May 6, routed the redemption through the XRP Ledger and Mastercard's Multi-Token Network, landing the proceeds in a Singapore bank account.
How the transaction worked
The company used the XRP Ledger for settlement and Mastercard's Multi-Token Network to handle the interoperability between the tokenized asset and the bank's systems. The entire process happened in near-real-time, a significant departure from traditional cross-border fund transfers, which can take days. Ondo Finance did not disclose the amount redeemed or the name of the Singapore bank involved.
What this means for tokenized assets
Tokenized U.S. Treasury funds are digital versions of short-term government debt, designed to be transferred and settled faster than conventional instruments. This redemption shows that such assets can move across borders almost instantly, using blockchain rails and existing financial networks. It's a practical demonstration of a concept that has mostly lived in whitepapers and pilot programs.
Cross-border payments remain slow and expensive for many institutions. By combining a tokenized fund with a real-time settlement layer, Ondo Finance has shown a way to shrink that time to seconds. The use of Mastercard's Multi-Token Network suggests that traditional payment card infrastructure can plug into blockchain-based assets without requiring banks to overhaul their systems. Whether other firms will follow suit is not yet known — no timeline for additional transactions has been announced.
