Private Equity Giant Apollo Invests in Crypto RWA Platform Plume

Plume, a blockchain platform focused on real-world assets (RWAs), said on Tuesday it secured an investment from funds managed by private equity giant Apollo Global Management as it looks to scale up its infrastructure and bring more traditional financial products on-chain.

The protocol did not disclose the terms of the funding. A spokesperson for Plume told CoinDesk that it was a “seven-figure” investment.

Plume develops a modular, Ethereum-compatible blockchain designed to turn a wide range of assets — from financial instruments to carbon credits and collectibles — into usable tokens. Its goal is to create an environment where users can not only hold the digital versions of real-world assets but also use them in familiar crypto activities like lending, borrowing, swapping and speculating.

The investment will help Plume fast-track its full-stack blockchain buildout and widen access to its ecosystem. Plume said its testnet already supports more than 18 million user crypto wallets and over 200 integrated protocols.

The funding from Apollo, one of the world’s largest alternative asset managers, underscores growing institutional interest in tokenized real-world assets, using blockchain rails for traditional instruments like bonds, funds and commodities. A recent report from Ripple and Boston Consulting Group projected that the market for tokenized assets could reach $18.9 trillion by 2033.

For an asset manager like Apollo, which has been eyeing digital finance for some time, the deal with Plume is a bet on infrastructure that aims to make alternative assets more liquid and programmable.

“Our investment in Plume underscores Apollo’s focus on technologies that broaden access to institutional-quality products and create more seamless, innovative client experiences,” Christine Moy, partner and head of digital assets at Apollo, said in a statement. “As private assets and funds increasingly move on-chain, Plume represents a new kind of infrastructure focused on digital asset utility, investor engagement, and next-generation financial solutions – advancing the development of a more efficient and programmable financial system.”

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