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WisdomTree’s cryptocurrency business comes to life in New York against the wishes of large shareholders
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WisdomTree Prime, the company’s digital assets app, launched Thursday in New York.
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The app allows users to save, spend and invest in digital assets on-chain.
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The move comes as one of the company’s largest shareholders urges investors to vote against the reappointment of CEO Jonathan Steinberg, given his strong push into the cryptocurrency sector.
WisdomTree’s digital asset app, which gives users access to bitcoin {{BTC}} and Ethereum ether {{ETH}} as well as dollar and gold tokens, became available to customers in New York on Thursday , even as CEO Jonathan Steinberg is under pressure from shareholders following the investment firm’s push into decentralized finance.
The app, called WisdomTree Prime, launched in 21 states in July and has received authorization to operate as a limited purpose trust company under New York banking law in March.
It allows users to save, spend and invest in digital assets on-chain using the Stellar and Ethereum blockchains, which share ownership records.
“Since we first entered app stores in select states last summer, we have shown strong momentum on all fronts, including the launch of new digital funds, payment capabilities and collaboration with regulators,” he said. said Will Peck, the company’s head of digital assets. A Press release.
WisdomTree’s digital asset plans, however, have caused headaches for Steinberg, the Financial Times reported earlier this week.
The company’s largest shareholder, Graham Tuckwell, president of ETFS Capital, disagrees with the company’s strong push into DeFi and urged investors to vote against Steinberg’s reappointment.
According to the FT, Tuckwell told shareholders that Steinberg’s DeFi ventures were “a huge and completely unsuccessful distraction.” The Australian businessman became a major shareholder in WisdomTree in 2018, when the firm acquired the European division of ETF Securities founded by Tuckwell in 2005.
WisdomTree has become a dominant TradFi player in the cryptocurrency industry since 2019 when it launched its first bitcoin exchange-traded product on the Swiss stock exchange SIX. In January this year, it became one of 10 issuers of a spot bitcoin ETF in the United States. The fund saw the fewest inflows among all issuers with around $70 million, while others raised billions of dollars in investor money.