Ondo Finance faces control dispute after founder Nathan Allman’s death

A governance battle has emerged at Ondo Finance after founder Nathan Allman’s death earlier this year, with his estate asking the Delaware Chancery Court to decide who legally controls the tokenized real-world asset company. According to CoinDesk, three court filings accuse former President and current CEO Ian De Bode of attempting to take control while Allman’s voting stake was tied up in probate.

The dispute matters because Ondo is part of the fast-growing market for tokenized real-world assets, where corporate stability can affect counterparties, employees and ecosystem partners. The estate says uncertainty over control could influence contracts, spending, equity issuances and other corporate decisions, and it is seeking an expedited ruling.

The filings center on the weeks after Allman’s death in May. The complaint says Allman had been Ondo’s CEO, sole director and controlling shareholder, but his voting power became part of his estate and could not be exercised until his mother, Kathleen Allman, was appointed personal representative in Hawaii probate proceedings on June 26. Public filings redacted both the size of the voting stake and the cause of death.

The estate alleges De Bode wrongly claimed he automatically became CEO under Ondo’s bylaws, elected himself sole director through a voting agreement and took corporate actions that included hiring advisers, approving performance grants and trying to add another director. The complaint argues the CEO vacancy required board action and that those steps were invalid.

De Bode rejected the allegations in comments to CoinDesk, saying Kathleen Allman’s claims are without merit and that current leadership remains committed to Ondo and its clients. The estate, meanwhile, says Kathleen Allman first tried to keep operations steady and work with De Bode before appointing new directors and voting on July 24 to remove him from all company positions while naming herself chair and interim CEO.

The court has not ruled on the allegations, and the filings represent the estate’s version of events. Ondo’s board said separately that it remains focused on serving the community without interruption while searching for a successor to Allman; the company also announced this week that former Blockchain.com executive Adam Schlisman had joined as chief financial officer.