S&P Global snaps up OpenZeppelin in second crypto deal in three days

S&P Global agreed on Thursday to buy OpenZeppelin, the firm whose open-source code underpins many of the world's biggest stablecoins. It marks the ratings agency's second crypto acquisition in three days.

No financial details were given by either side. The deal gives S&P a foothold in the code that moves tokenized money, not just the data that describes it.

S&P Global two major crypto deals in three days. Led the top-up to Kaiko's $110M Series B Monday, buying OpenZeppelin today.

Aggressive moves. https://t.co/G7IH4ljPlr

— matthew sigel, recovering CFA (@matthew_sigel) September 17, 2026

The Code Running Beneath Most Stablecoins

Since 2015, OpenZeppelin has offered free smart contract building blocks. Smart contracts are programs that shift money on a blockchain without a bank in the middle.

The company states its code has moved more than $37 trillion in value. It has also completed over 900 security reviews and uncovered more than 10,000 flaws.

“OpenZeppelin’s standards, technology, and expertise already power the infrastructure behind the world’s leading stablecoins, tokenized funds, DeFi protocols, and onchain markets,” Chief executive Demian Brener said that in the company’s statement.

He stays in his role and will report to Yann Le Pallec, president of S&P Global Ratings.

S&P Global Has Spent a Year Rating Crypto Products

The firm issued its first credit rating for a DeFi protocol, Sky, and the first stablecoin stability assessments. It also tokenized the S&P 500 with Centrifuge, then created a hybrid crypto-equity benchmark.

Each of those judged a product. Buying OpenZeppelin moves the company into evaluating the code underneath.

That shift carries history. In 2015, S&P paid $1.375 billion to settle Justice Department claims that it defrauded investors over its crisis-era mortgage ratings.

Two Deals in Three Days Buy Two Different Layers

On Monday, S&P led a $110 million funding round in Kaiko. The Paris-based firm sells pricing data across more than 150 exchanges and protocols. BNP Paribas, Nasdaq Ventures and Royal Bank of Canada joined the round.

Kaiko measures what tokenized assets are worth. OpenZeppelin checks whether the code holding them holds up.

Both bets meet the same awkward fact. CoinGecko studied 245 incidents since January 2025. Protocols that had already cleared independent reviews accounted for 88% of everything stolen. Those breaches cost $3.63 billion through July 2026, which means audited protocols still lose funds.

Investors have been cooler on the buyer. On September 16, SPGI closed at $406.76, near the floor of a 52-week range topping out at $552.25.