(Bloomberg) -- Justin Schmidt, the former head of digital asset markets at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., has become president and chief operating officer of Ondo Finance Inc., a decentralized investment platform founded by a pair of other Goldman associates.

Schmidt spent two years at Goldman, leading its efforts in digital assets, before moving on to crypto technology provider Talos, which he left almost a year ago.

The move comes as Ondo, founded by Nathan Allman and Pinku Surana, has been making a deeper push into the so-called “tokenization” of real world assets such as bonds and US Treasuries — a trend that’s also won over the likes of asset management giants KKR & Co. Inc. and Apollo Global Management Inc.

“I’m excited to reunite with Nate and join the world-class Ondo team full time after supporting them from the beginning as an investor and adviser,” Schmidt said in a message to Bloomberg News. “I will focus on growth, strategy, and execution as we continue to bring innovative institutional-grade financial products and services on-chain.”

Surana is no long with Ondo, Allman told Bloomberg News. The project’s investors include Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Coinbase Ventures and Tiger Global Management LLC. 

(Updates to reflect Schmidt’s dual roles at Ondo in the first paragraph; Surana’s departure.)

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.