The real-world asset protocol, Ondo Finance, has experienced a drop of over 80% in its market valuation. However, the total value locked in Ondo reached a record 2.5 billion this week. According to data reported by Nhat Hoang, this divergence suggests a potential institutional undervaluation of the crypto project, contrasting sharply with the pessimistic sentiment currently held by retail investors.
Selling pressure intensified notably following the unlocking of 1.94 billion tokens on January 18th, representing more than fifty percent of the issued supply. This event generated liquidity saturation in exchanges, which is why the price fell from peaks above $2.1 to the current $0.35, affecting the confidence of those who acquired the asset during the boom of fixed-income cryptocurrencies and digital bonds.
Despite this bearish scenario in price charts, the interest of large financial entities seems to remain unchanged and firm. Corporate participation in tokenized equities has reached new all-time highs, allowing Ondo to maintain an absolute leadership position in the sector with over 54% market share, which demonstrates a solid adoption of its financial products by professional capitals and global investment funds.
Expansion of the real asset market and strategic accumulation by whales
In this context, Token Terminal data reveals that the market capitalization of tokenized stocks has grown substantially since September of last year. Thus, even if individual prices suffer technical corrections, the underlying infrastructure continues to attract capital, consolidating the protocol as an efficient and secure bridge between traditional and decentralized finance, while institutions increase their exposure to real-world assets through digital platforms.
Likewise, the analysis of the average spot order size suggests that large investors, or whales, are taking advantage of these low prices. Large volume orders dominate the recent market charts, indicating that participants with greater financial capacity are accumulating strategic positions, as the current state of fear in the markets represents an unparalleled buying opportunity for sophisticated investment funds and long-term holders.
Will the price recovery be able to match the institutional growth of Ondo?
On the other hand, the optimism expressed by global leaders at Davos 2026 regarding asset tokenization reinforces the long-term growth thesis. As tokenization is considered a central trend of the digital economy, the relevance of protocols that facilitate this transition is indisputable, which is why the total value locked in Ondo is expected to continue its upward path as long as the demand for treasury bonds and tokenized credits persists.
Finally, once the selling pressure derived from the massive unlock dissipates, the market could experience a significant bullish correction to adjust valuation. The robustness of the protocol’s technical fundamentals suggests that the current disconnect between price and adoption is transitory, which is why analysts foresee a solid and steady rally driven by renewed institutional interest in the efficiency of the global financial ecosystem.
