S&P Global agreed to acquire OpenZeppelin, the smart-contract security firm behind widely used open-source libraries, and will run it as a unit under S&P Global Ratings, the companies said Sept. 17. Financial terms were not disclosed.
OpenZeppelin will keep its name. Co-founder and CEO Demian Brener will continue to lead the business and report to Yann Le Pallec, president of S&P Global Ratings, according to the announcement. Le Pallec said S&P’s digital-assets strategy centers on trusted data, benchmarks and transparent risk assessment as markets move onchain, and that OpenZeppelin’s technology will complement smart-contract and onchain technology risk assessment for traditional finance and DeFi firms alike.
Founded in 2015, OpenZeppelin sells audits and secure development services and maintains open-source contract libraries. The company says OpenZeppelin Contracts have underpinned more than $37 trillion in value transferred and that it has completed more than 900 security engagements, surfacing over 10,000 vulnerabilities before production — company-cited figures that are not independently verified here. CoinDesk noted the deal extends S&P’s digital-asset work beyond issuer credit and reserves to the code that issues and moves stablecoins, tokenized funds and DeFi products.
The transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions. Secondary reports of S&P’s release say the deal is not expected to be material to near-term financial results.