WisdomTree Launches Ethereum-Based Tokenization Platform for Customers
WisdomTree launched an Ethereum-based platform for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) called WisdomTree Connect on September 18th.
The goal of this platform is to allow customers to interact with all tokens issued by WisdomTree across various blockchains.
WisdomTree Connect allows businesses to access products that generate revenue on-chain through blockchain-integrated record keeping. Businesses receive digital records of WisdomTree digital funds in their wallets. Tokens can be self-hosted or stored in a third-party custody service.
Will Peck, WisdomTree’s head of digital assets, said the growing interest in tokenized real-world assets led to the creation of WisdomTree Connect.
He added that this opens up additional business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) opportunities for WisdomTree to enable on-chain businesses to access digital money without having to leave the ecosystem.
According to the announcement, the platform will initially support web portal and API access, with plans to explore decentralized application (dApp) interactions in the future. Institutional users will be able to purchase or exchange using US dollars or the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin.
WisdomTree Connect complements the company’s direct retail app, WisdomTree Prime, providing digital asset solutions across its entire customer base.
WisdomTree may migrate to Ethereum
According to RWA.xyz, the total market cap of tokenized U.S. Treasuries is over $2.2 billion. WisdomTree currently offers seven different tokenized products, worth $12.2 million. This puts the company out of the top 10 by total tokenized issuers.
The asset manager’s products range from short-term government bonds to long-term government bonds, with liquidity ranging from 7 to 10 years.
In particular, six of the seven products offered by WisdomTree are issued on the Stellar blockchain, and tokens are minted using Ethereum on WisdomTree Connect.
The announcement revealed plans to add support for additional blockchains in the future, but it was not clear whether WisdomTree’s current product would be migrated to Ethereum.
Stellar is currently the second largest blockchain infrastructure for tokenizing US Treasuries, with $426.5 million worth of Treasuries distributed as tokens, thanks to Franklin Templeton’s FOBXX tokenization fund.
Meanwhile, Ethereum holds over $1.6 billion worth of digital representations of U.S. Treasuries, while BlackRock leads the pack with over $521 million in tokenized stocks in its BUIDL fund.
Therefore, given WisdomTree’s plans to integrate its tokens with dApps, a migration to Ethereum, the largest decentralized ecosystem in terms of total locked value, would make sense.
