“ETFs were referred to as weapons of mass destruction,” Hoffman said, recalling the skepticism that surrounded the structure before it became one of the dominant ways investors access markets.

When he joined the ETF industry in the early 2000s, the market held roughly $200 billion in assets, he said. Today, it’s nearly a $20-trillion global asset class, according to a PwC report.

He said tokenization is following a similar path, but much faster than ETFs.

“Every market that digitizes gets larger,” he said. “And tokenization is really the digitization of capital markets.”

Building for an agent-driven future

For Hoffman, tokenization will become the foundation for what comes next: AI-driven financial services.

He said he envisions a future where autonomous agents continuously monitor markets and allocate capital through professionally managed portfolios that update in real time as conditions change.

“Our end state will be portfolios that are professionally managed, real-time and adjusting to market circumstances and data changes,” he said.

To get there, the industry first needs tokenized assets, onchain prime-brokerage infrastructure and asset-management strategies that can be executed natively on blockchain networks.

Ondo is building toward that vision, he said. The firm already offers tokenized U.S. Treasury products and plans to expand into stocks, ETFs and perpetual futures through its tokenized marketplace.