Nathan Allman, the founder of tokenized-treasury protocol Ondo Finance, died unexpectedly in late May at age 32. He left no will. At the time of his death, Allman was Ondo's CEO, its sole director, and its controlling shareholder — a concentration of authority that, absent a succession plan, meant his voting power simply froze along with his estate. It could not be exercised by anyone until his mother, Kathleen Allman, was formally appointed personal representative through Hawaii probate proceedings on June 26, nearly a month after his death. The size of Nathan Allman's voting stake and the cause of his death remain redacted in the public court filings.
Into that vacuum stepped Ian De Bode, then Ondo's president. According to Kathleen Allman's complaint, De Bode began presenting himself as chief executive within days of the founder's death, asserting that he had automatically inherited the role without any board vote taking place. Ondo's own public communications at the time said De Bode would become CEO, a framing the company has not walked back. Kathleen Allman's account paints a more contested picture: her verified complaint, filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery on July 24, alleges De Bode pushed through roughly $11 million in compensation and token-incentive packages for himself within the first week after Nathan Allman's death, and accuses him of trying to permanently entrench control of the company before the estate could act.
The case now hinges on who controls the estate itself
Kathleen Allman's complaint argues that, through her son's estate, she controls enough voting power to reconstitute Ondo's board and remove De Bode outright — a claim that, if upheld, would hand her effective control of one of the larger names in the tokenized real-world-asset sector. But the fight has since split into two separate battles rather than one. CoinDesk reported that Nathan Allman's half-sister, alongside an Ondo investor named David Chen, has separately petitioned for a limited conservatorship over Kathleen Allman's share of the estate, alleging cognitive impairment, alcoholism and reckless spending on her part — allegations Kathleen Allman denies. That second filing means the Delaware court fight over who controls Ondo is now tangled up with a second, more personal dispute over who controls the estate that would decide it — a level of company-founder drama unusual even by crypto standards, though not unheard of: Copper's own CEO departure this year coincided with its sale price sliding to $200 million, another case where leadership uncertainty directly weighed on a crypto infrastructure firm's valuation.
Related: CZ Says IPOs Will Move On-Chain as Tokenization Push Grows
What it means for a company built on trust in its custody structure
Ondo Finance's core business — tokenizing US Treasuries and other real-world assets for on-chain investors — depends heavily on institutional and investor confidence in the company's governance and custody practices. A public, increasingly personal legal battle over who legitimately controls the company sits awkwardly against that pitch, regardless of how the underlying protocol's smart contracts and treasury holdings are actually performing. ONDO's token price dipped as the initial lawsuit became public in early August, and the case's escalation this week gives the market a fresh reason to price in governance uncertainty even as the protocol itself continues operating. It's a notably different kind of company-building risk than the one facing newer entrants like OpenReserve, which just raised a $25 million seed round led by a16z to build a round-the-clock blockchain bank — a reminder that even well-funded, well-governed RWA startups face very different risks than the succession chaos now playing out at an established incumbent.
FAQ
Who currently runs Ondo Finance?
Ian De Bode has been operating as CEO since shortly after founder Nathan Allman's death, but his authority to hold that role is directly disputed in the Delaware Court of Chancery lawsuit filed by Allman's mother.
Why does Nathan Allman's estate matter so much to who controls Ondo?
Allman was Ondo's sole director and controlling shareholder when he died without a will, so his voting power passed into his estate — meaning whoever legally controls that estate effectively controls the deciding votes over the company's board.
Has the conservatorship dispute been resolved?
No. The petition seeking a limited conservatorship over Kathleen Allman's share of the estate, filed by Nathan Allman's half-sister and investor David Chen, is a separate, unresolved proceeding that now runs alongside the main Delaware Chancery case.
