Ground Expands Its Onchain Yield Infrastructure Into Tokenized Assets, Deepens Executive Bench adds Stephanie Vaughan as COO, to Drive Institutional Growth

Following a recent fundraise, Ground is growing beyond blockchain native yield by embedding a diverse suite of RWAs, enabling instant access to everything from highly liquid tokenized treasuries and structured credit through a single API.

[San Francisco, CA - July 22, 2026] - Ground, the money infrastructure company, today announced its strategic expansion into tokenized assets (or Real World Assets (RWAs)) alongside the appointment of financial infrastructure veteran Stephanie Vaughan as COO. The milestone marks Ground's evolution from a tech infrastructure startup into a trusted enterprise fintech partner. 

Building on its recent fundraise, Ground is extending its infrastructure beyond crypto native yield to bring clients secure, transparent access to real world assets. To fuel the launch, Ground has named tokenization infrastructure leaders Centrifuge and Superstate as core integration partners, starting with their tokenized T-bill funds managed by Janus Henderson (JTRSY) and Invesco (USTB), respectively, AAA CLO strategy managed by Janus Henderson (JAAA), and crypto basis strategy managed by Bitwise (USCC). Ground is built to enable compliance and product teams to dynamically tailor yield to their risk, return, and liquidity requirements and that customization is now available to the newly integrated RWAs, alongside crypto-native strategies.

"Tokenization's unlock is when it's an invisible layer that enables seamless, secure and customizable access to great investment products," said Bhaji Illuminati, CEO at Centrifuge. "And Ground is doing just that. They're building the exact infrastructure needed to connect traditional fintech with diversified real world assets. We're thrilled to be a RWA launch partner with Ground, integrating Centrifuge's asset pools into Ground's API, enabling institutions to seamlessly manage risk and liquidity profiles." 

Anchoring this expansion is the addition of Stephanie Vaughan as COO. The former COO and co-founder of Veda and Seven Sevens. Vaughan has spent years building in DeFi, scaling secure digital asset platforms, and navigating the complex legal, regulatory, and compliance frameworks required for institutional adoption. Her leadership connects Ground's infrastructure to the institutions increasingly moving between traditional asset management and onchain rails. 

"Traditional financial applications and neobanks are eager to offer performant yields and leverage found onchain, but they cannot afford to compromise on compliance or risk management," said Stephanie Vaughan, COO at Ground. "Ground has built the trusted, configurable plumbing that treats compliance as a feature, not a hurdle. I look forward to driving our go-to-market strategy as we supercharge corporate balances and connect mainstream finance to highly differentiated, institutional-grade RWA yield."

"The addition of Stephanie Vaughan to our leadership team cements our position as the credible choice for compliance-minded institutions seeking the full spectrum of onchain yield from crypto native strategies to real world assets," said Reid Cuming, CEO and Co-Founder of Ground. 

Ground's platform including RWAs is live today for all B2B and B2B2C API partners. For more information, visit groundtech.co.  

About Ground

Ground is the premier enterprise-grade API infrastructure layer for institutional onchain finance. Co-founded by fintech and digital asset veterans from Stripe, Superstate, HiFi and Compound, Ground enables financial applications and platforms to seamlessly embed onchain asset management directly into their products. Ground is backed by leading venture firms including Bain Capital Crypto, ParaFi, Nascent, Robot Ventures, and Chapter One. Learn more at groundtech.co.  

About Superstate

Superstate partners with issuers to bring securities onchain, enabling access to new investor capital and modern financial markets. Through Opening Bell, Superstate partners with companies issuing tokenized equity. Through FundOS, it serves asset managers launching tokenized funds. Both platforms support compliant issuance, record keeping, direct investor registration, and onchain market integration via their SEC-registered transfer agency infrastructure. Superstate's flagship funds USTB (now the Invesco Short Duration US Government Securities Fund) and USCC (now the Bitwise Crypto Carry Fund) validated this infrastructure at institutional scale before transitioning to leading asset managers on FundOS. Learn more at superstate.com.

About Centrifuge

Centrifuge is an onchain asset management and tokenization platform. As one of the first and largest tokenization platforms, Centrifuge bridges traditional and onchain capital markets, tokenizing high-quality institutional assets and integrating them deeply across DeFi. The platform powers onchain strategies for Apollo, Janus Henderson, and S&P Dow Jones Indices, with tokens now live across leading DeFi protocols including Sky, Aave, and Morpho. Beyond infrastructure, Centrifuge advances the broader ecosystem through the Real-World Asset Summit, the Tokenized Vault Foundation, and the Tokenized Asset Coalition. Learn more at centrifuge.io. 

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