S&P Global agrees to acquire OpenZeppelin in onchain security push

S&P Global has agreed to acquire blockchain security platform OpenZeppelin, broadening its digital asset capabilities, the financial data, ratings, and benchmark provider announced on Thursday. The deal aims to complement S&P Global's risk assessment and ecosystem development in the digital asset market. The financial terms of the transaction remain undisclosed and are subject to closing conditions.

S&P Global's ratings president, Yann Le Pallec, emphasized the importance of trusted data, benchmarks, and transparent risk assessment as markets transition onto the blockchain. OpenZeppelin, founded in 2015, specializes in open-source smart contract software and provides security assessments for blockchain projects and financial institutions, with its smart contracts having facilitated over $37 trillion in value transfers and completing more than 900 security engagements.

The platform's smart contracts library and other open-source applications will remain free and publicly maintained on GitHub, operating as a separate business unit within S&P Global, led by CEO Demian Brener, who will report to Le Pallec. This acquisition follows S&P Global's strategic investment in Kaiko, expanding its Series B funding to $110 million to enhance data infrastructure for tokenized financial markets.