S&P Global to acquire blockchain security platform OpenZeppelin

S&P Global announced an agreement to acquire OpenZeppelin, a provider of open-source smart contract software and blockchain security services. The move is presented as part of S&P Global’s effort to expand its digital assets strategy by adding capabilities in smart contract and onchain technology risk assessment. The companies did not disclose financial terms and said the transaction is subject to closing conditions.

OpenZeppelin, established in 2015, offers a widely used contracts library and performs security assessments for blockchain projects and financial institutions. According to the announcement, code produced by OpenZeppelin has supported more than $37 trillion in value transfers, and the company has completed in excess of 900 security engagements. OpenZeppelin said its contracts library and other open-source applications will remain free and continue to be publicly maintained on GitHub.

Under the planned arrangement, OpenZeppelin will operate as a separate business unit within S&P Global. CEO Demian Brener will remain in his role and report to Yann Le Pallec, president of S&P Global Ratings, who said the acquisition will complement the firm’s risk assessment and ecosystem development work in digital assets. S&P Global has framed the deal as aligning with its goal of providing trusted data, benchmarks and transparent risk analysis as markets adopt onchain infrastructure.

The announcement follows another recent S&P Global move in crypto markets: earlier in the week the company led a strategic investment in Kaiko, increasing the Paris-based market data provider’s Series B round to $110 million. Together, these steps reflect S&P Global’s broader efforts to expand data and infrastructure offerings for tokenized financial markets.