SEC approves 9 more WisdomTree 'blockchain-enabled' funds

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has given the green light to nine more blockchain-enabled funds from $82 billion asset manager WisdomTree.

None of these funds track crypto assets themselves, but the firm does utilize the Ethereum and Stellar blockchains to keep a secondary record of share ownership, thus making them blockchain-enabled or “digital funds” as WidsomTree describes them.

The firm announced the SEC’s approval on Dec. 14, and outlined that the nine digital funds offer exposure to a host of different asset classes such as equities, commodities and floating rate treasuries. The funds are expected to launch via the WisdomTree Prime mobile app in the first quarter of 2023.

“We believe that blockchain-enabled finance has the potential to improve the investor experience through enhanced liquidity, transparency and standardization, which we aim to achieve over time,” said Will Peck, WisdomTree’s Head of Digital Assets.

The latest SEC approval comes three months after it approved the firm’s first digital fund called the WisdomTree Short-Term Treasury Digital Fund (WTSYX) in September.

In a Sept. 26 blog post, Peck emphasized that WisdomTree is looking at creating a greater investor experience via digital funds and blockchain tech, particularly in relation to trading and transaction settlements.

“To give a few examples […] it’s remarkable that some blockchains can provide near-instant settlement finality on a peer-to-peer basis on a 24/7/365 basis. Blockchains can allow for atomic settlement (where software ensures assets are exchanged in settlement) as opposed to other potentially riskier settlement processes, like delivery vs. payment (DvP),” he wrote.

As of Dec. 14, WisdomTree claims to have roughly $82 billion worth of assets under management across its U.S. and Europe listed funds.

Like Grayscale Investments, the firm has also been pushing to launch an exchange traded fund (ETF) offering exposure to the spot price of Bitcoin (BTC) since early 2021.

However the SEC has rejected WidsomTree’s applications on multiple occasions, citing general concerns over fraud and market manipulation on BTC trading markets.

To date, the SEC is still yet to approve a spot BTC ETF.

The firm however offers various products tracking the altcoin market and earlier this year in March, the firm also launched three crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) backed by Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA) and Polkadot (DOT).