S&P Global agrees to acquire security firm OpenZeppelin

Credit ratings agency S&P Global agreed to acquire smart contract security firm OpenZeppelin on Thursday, 17 September 2026. The transaction broadens the company's risk assessment services into the technical code behind tokenized financial products as banks and asset managers move operations onto blockchain networks.

The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Following the closing of the deal, OpenZeppelin will operate under its own brand as a separate business unit. Co-founder and CEO Demian Brener will continue to lead the unit and will report to Yann Le Pallec, President of S&P Global Ratings.

Founded in 2015, OpenZeppelin designs open-source smart contract libraries and provides security audits and development services across blockchains such as Ethereum, Solana, and Cardano. S&P Global stated that OpenZeppelin's tools will support the creation of security assessments, benchmarks, and data services for technical risks in onchain products.

The transaction builds on previous digital asset projects at S&P Global. S&P Dow Jones Indices previously helped launch the S&P Digital Markets 50 Index, which tracks 35 blockchain-related equities and 15 cryptocurrencies with onchain verifiability via Chainlink. The announcement also follows broader institutional adoption, including BlackRock launching tokenized money market funds on Ethereum and Solana, alongside a recent SEC innovation exemption for trading tokenized US stocks on public blockchains.