ORQO Debuts in Abu Dhabi With $370M in AUM, Sets Sight on Ripple USD Yield

ORQO Group, a new institutional asset manager with $370 million in assets under management, has launched on Tuesday with plans to build out a yield platform for Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin.

The group, headquartered in Abu Dhabi, consolidates four entities from both traditional finance and digital assets: Mount TFI, a private debt specialist and licensed fund manager in Poland, Monterra Capital, a multi-strategy digital hedge fund in Malta, blockchain engineering studio Nextrope and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Soil compliant with MiCA, the EU’s crypto framework.

Already licensed in Poland and Malta, the group is seeking approval from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority at Abu Dhabi Global Market to expand services in the Middle East, a region it sees as a hub for regulated digital asset growth.

“It’s an opportunity to become a global on-chain asset manager,” ORQO CEO Nicholas Motz said in an interview with CoinDesk. “We have all the pieces: the off-chain asset management, and on-chain, too.”

ORQO’s effort is part of a larger trend that’s been reshaping crypto markets: moving traditional financial instruments like private credit, U.S. Treasuries, or trade finance deals onto blockchain networks. The process is also known as tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs). Data from rwa.xyz shows that the RWA market has grown into a nearly $30 billion sector, though it remains tiny compared to traditional finance markets such as the $2 trillion private credit sector. Still, the growth potential is immense: the tokenized RWA market could reach $18.9 trillion by 2033, a joint report by Ripple and BCG projected.

Yield platform Soil is a key piece in ORQO’s gameplan, connecting the firm’s RWA access with crypto capital capital. It aims to provide returns on stablecoins deposits from tokenized private credit, real estate and hedge fund strategies.

As part of the next stage, the firm plans to open several credit pools targeting holders of Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin in the near future, allowing investors such as institutional treasuries or protocol reserves to earn a yield on their holdings.

Read more: Tokenization of Real-World Assets is Gaining Momentum, Says Bank of America