S&P Global has agreed to acquire OpenZeppelin, a smart contract security and assessment firm, deepening its push into crypto risk assessment. The deal follows a $110 million strategic investment in crypto data firm Kaiko announced three days earlier. S&P Global has begun rating stablecoins, tokenized products, and DeFi protocols, including a B- issuer credit rating for Sky Protocol and a “weak” rating for Tether’s USDT. Observers note that rating agencies’ issuer-pays model, which failed to prevent the 2008 financial crisis, may carry the same conflicts into DeFi risk assessment.
S&P Global has announced plans to acquire OpenZeppelin, a smart contract security and assessment firm, as the financial data giant expands its digital asset risk frameworks. The acquisition agreement was announced on September 17.
Yann Le Pallec, President of S&P Global, reiterated that the move supports the company’s digital assets strategy. “Our digital assets strategy centers on bringing trusted data, benchmarks, and transparent risk assessment to markets as they move onchain.”
“OpenZeppelin’s technology and expertise will complement our smart contract and onchain technology risk assessment capabilities,” Le Pallec added. He said the expanded capabilities will help traditional finance institutions build confidence and transact in the crypto space.
OpenZeppelin called the agreement a major win for onchain finance, noting the sector is “growing from an emerging market into core financial infrastructure.” CEO Demian Brener called the update “big news” and said it marked new institutional reach in global markets.
The announcement came three days after S&P Global made a $110 million strategic investment into Kaiko, a crypto-native data firm. Kaiko CEO Ambre Soubiran called the investment “a powerful endorsement of Kaiko’s mission and the role trusted data and data infrastructure will play in tokenized markets.”
Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck, called the back-to-back bets “aggressive moves.”
S&P Global has already begun offering risk assessments of stablecoins, tokenized products, and DeFi protocols. In 2025, it issued a B- issuer credit rating for Sky Protocol and downgraded Tether‘s USDT to “weak” last November, sparking backlash from Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino.
However, rating agencies including S&P Global, Moody’s, and Fitch failed to stop the 2008 financial crisis due to conflicts of interest, as issuers pay for their ratings. If the issuer-pays model carries into DeFi, these risk frameworks may not meaningfully reduce underlying DeFi risks.
