WisdomTree plans to issue its regulated stablecoin in the US with aim to become the first
On January 13, financial news outlet FNLondon reported that WisdomTree Investments, a traditional asset management firm with over $60 billion in client assets, has planned to launch Stablecoin that regulated in the United States.
WisdomTree Office | Source: Pinterest
According to the report, the stablecoin will be pegged to a basket of assets like gold, fiat currencies or government debt. Besides, WisdomTree also wants the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve and regulate their new project, although not clear whether any talks with the U.S. financial watchdog have started. Further, it has no additional information about the alleged upcoming stable coin been provided.
WisdomTree seems to bet big on blockchain and cryptocurrencies. As a recent report that the firm invested in a startup, named Securrency Inc., one of the top institutional-grade blockchain builders in the financial and regulatory space. Moreover, at the time, it announced that it is looking to harness blockchain technology for the ETF(exchange-traded funds) market. Especially, last month, it launched a bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP), which listed on Switzerland’s primary stock exchange SIX and allows investors to gain access to BTC without the need to hold it directly.
Aim to become the first one among the giants
It seems that the company wants to become the first one among the giants to offer this product. Per the report, Jonathan Steinberg, founder, and chief executive officer of WisdomTree, shared that they want to be early, he emphasized they came to ETFs 13 years after State Stree, which gives them an opportunity to be ahead of the State Streets, Fidelitys, on regulated stable coins.
Jonathan Steinberg, CEO of WisdomTree | Source: a video screenshot, Youtube, WisdomTree ETFs
Among the list of competitors, State Street – a supervise bank that partnered with crypto exchange Gemini on a digital assets-reporting project, as well as fund manager Fidelity Investments has been also active in the crypto space.
In October last year, Fidelity deployed its highly anticipated cryptocurrency depository solution, created a tokenized reward system for its employees with security token expert Tokensoft on Nov 11 and announced it would expand to Europe with a new UK branch in Dec.
On the other hand, Facebook has been trying to push through its Libra digital coin since it’s reported last June. However, it has led an ongoing battle with regulators, resulting in several backers backing out, such as MasterCard and Visa. The SEC is also famous for rejecting or deferring and then rejecting ETF proposals.
Meanwhile, as said above, WisdomTree launched its first crypto product in Dec 2019 – a physically-backed BTC ETP, the WisdomTree BTC ETP (BTCW), which is listed on SIX, the Swiss Stock Exchange.
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