Tokenized assets will become foundational infrastructure for autonomous AI agents to execute trades and manage portfolios onchain, according to John Hoffman, the newly hired head of portfolio products at Ondo Finance.
Hoffman, a former Invesco and Grayscale executive, joined Ondo to lead the firm’s expansion into tokenized investment products. He argues the convergence of blockchain infrastructure and AI mirrors the explosive growth of the ETF market over the past two decades.
“The future of markets are onchain,” Hoffman said in an interview published June 13.
When Hoffman entered the ETF industry in the early 2000s, the asset class held roughly $200 billion. Today, according to PwC data, global ETFs manage $20 trillion. Tokenization is replicating that trajectory at an accelerated pace. The tokenized asset market nearly tripled over the past year to over $33 billion, per RWA.xyz data.
Hoffman noted that skepticism of ETFs once ran deep on Wall Street. “ETFs were referred to as weapons of mass destruction,” he recalled. Yet the asset class became foundational to modern capital markets. He sees tokenization following the same path. “Every market that digitizes gets larger,” Hoffman said. “And tokenization is really the digitization of capital markets.”
AI Agents as Active Market Participants
Hoffman’s vision extends beyond passive tokenization. He argues AI agents will eventually become active market participants, buying, selling and allocating capital through tokenized investment products. This requires three layers: tokenized assets, onchain trading infrastructure, and portfolio management strategies.
Ondo Finance already offers tokenized U.S. Treasury products and plans to expand into stocks, ETFs and perpetual futures. The firm’s end goal, according to Hoffman, is to enable real-time portfolio management at scale.
“Our end state will be portfolios that are professionally managed, real-time and adjusting to market circumstances and data changes,” he said.
Wall Street banks, asset managers and exchanges are experimenting with tokenized versions of traditional financial products. Industry forecasts underscore the scale of the opportunity. Citi estimates the tokenized asset sector will reach $5.5 trillion by 2030. Boston Consulting Group and Ripple project the tokenized asset opportunity at $18.9 trillion by 2033.
From ETF Parallels to Onchain Infrastructure
Hoffman frames tokenization as the natural evolution of market digitization. The ETF market’s growth from $200 billion to $20 trillion demonstrates how digital wrappers around traditional assets unlock liquidity and scale. Tokenization applies the same logic to blockchain rails.
“The vision is really about becoming the world’s most trusted platform for intelligently managed, onchain investment portfolios,” Hoffman said.
The infrastructure to support autonomous AI investing is still being built. Ondo and other firms are laying the groundwork through tokenized products, trading rails, and portfolio management tools. As this infrastructure matures, Hoffman expects AI agents to assume an increasingly active role in capital allocation onchain.
