Aug 21, 2023
In a groundbreaking move, Securitize has announced our acquisition of Onramp Invest, a digital asset wealth platform. This acquisition is poised to empower registered investment advisors (RIAs) and forward-thinking financial professionals, enabling them to provide their clients with unprecedented access to a diverse range of top-performing alternative asset classes.
This acquisition follows a successful partnership announcement in March, through which Securitize and Onramp enabled RIAs to access private equity feeder funds from investment giants KKR and Hamilton Lane.
What This Acquisition Means For RIAs and Private Markets
The RIA community in the U.S. oversees $110 trillion in assets, making it a pivotal avenue for the penetration of any financial product. However, as Digital Asset Research CEO Doug Schwenk recently noted, “Many RIAs have been slower to embrace the cryptocurrency investment narrative and thesis, while it’s much easier for them to bring forward traditional assets in a new mechanism or wrapper.”
To bolster the acceptance of tokenized offerings, we decided it was crucial to expand their availability to the RIA segment. By acquiring Onramp, we can now present tokenized options such as private equity, private credit, and secondaries via the conventional platforms that RIAs typically utilize for client reporting.
Unlocking New Avenues of Investment
For the first time, RIAs will have the ability to seamlessly offer their clients investments in sought-after alternative asset classes such as private equity, private credit, secondaries, real estate, and more, all through Onramp’s Invest dashboard. This advancement not only broadens the scope of investment opportunities but also streamlines the management process by integrating with existing reporting systems.
By leveraging Securitize's alternative investment portfolio, RIAs can introduce institutional share classes from renowned alternative asset managers, thereby reducing minimum investment requirements and associated fees. Additionally, this acquisition facilitates access to liquidity, enhancing the overall investment experience for both advisors and clients.
Onramp Invest: Trailblazing Digital Asset Wealth
Onramp Invest has been at the forefront of enabling financial advisors to make intelligent and secure investments in digital assets on behalf of their clients. Notably, Onramp's integration capabilities with established RIA tech stacks, such as Orion, Advyzon, Wealthbox, and AssetBook, have garnered widespread recognition. The platform's commitment to market research through its academy and innovative partnerships, including WisdomTree, CoinDesk, Global X, and Valkyrie Invest, has solidified its position as a key player in the digital asset space.
Serving a robust community of RIAs across the U.S. with a cumulative AUM exceeding $40 billion, as well as collaborating with influential asset managers and index providers, Onramp Invest has proven itself as a trusted ally for forward-looking financial professionals.
Embracing the Power of Tokenization
In the realm of modern finance, much of the business value is generated through private market alternative investments, which extend beyond conventional stocks and bonds listed on public exchanges. This partnership between Securitize and Onramp Invest marks a pivotal moment, granting RIAs the ability to offer clients access to compelling and liquid alternative investment classes, including:
Charting a New Future
As this monumental partnership takes shape, Onramp is anticipated to operate as a subsidiary of Securitize, gradually integrating Securitize's offerings into its existing platform. The anticipated closure of the transaction in the coming days marks an exciting step forward, ushering in a new era of accessible wealth generation and diverse investment avenues. While the specific terms of the acquisition remain undisclosed, the implications for the investment landscape are crystal clear—the democratization of alternative assets is well underway.