WisdomTree, fresh off the release of news that nine new digital funds would be approved, has restated its intention to further incorporate blockchain technology in order to enhance the investor experience.
Nine additional blockchain-enabled funds managed by $82 billion asset manager WisdomTree have been approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
All of these funds are not crypto asset trackers in and of themselves, but the company does use the Ethereum and Stellar blockchains to keep a secondary record of share ownership, making them blockchain-enabled or “digital funds” in WidsomTree’s terminology.
On December 14th, the company announced that they had received approval from the SEC for nine digital funds that provide access to a wide range of asset classes. The first quarter of 2023 is targeted for the release of the funds through the WisdomTree Prime mobile app.
WisdomTree’s Head of Digital Assets, Will Peck, believes that “blockchain-enabled finance” has the potential to improve the investor experience through increased liquidity, transparency, and standardization.
Three months have passed since the company’s first digital fund, the WisdomTree Short-Term Treasury Digital Fund (WTSYX), was approved by the SEC in September.
Peck emphasized in a blog post dated September 26 that WisdomTree is considering ways to improve the investor experience by utilizing digital funds and blockchain technology, in particular with regard to trading and transaction settlements.
To give a few examples, it is amazing that some blockchains can provide 24/7/365 peer-to-peer finality in settlement almost instantly. “Blockchains can facilitate atomic settlement, where software guarantees that assets are exchanged in settlement, as opposed to other potentially riskier settlement processes like delivery vs. payment (DvP),” he wrote.
WisdomTree estimates that the total value of assets managed by its U.S. and European listed funds is around $82 billion as of the 14th of December.
