WisdomTree Inc. announced Wednesday that it will offer 10 new digital funds through the WisdomTree Prime mobile application, scheduled for launch in the first quarter of 2023.
The firm has opened a waitlist for the app, a digital wallet that will be available to all retail investors in the U.S. to save, invest and spend, and to provide exclusive access to the digital funds. Affiliated broker WisdomTree Securities Inc. will facilitate transactions.
WisdomTree said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently declared nine of the funds effective — meaning the firm has met all SEC document requirements for fund registrations — after declaring effective its initial digital fund, WisdomTree Short-Term Treasury Digital Fund (WTSYX), earlier this year. The firm said it expects to launch WTSYX in the near future.
The digital funds will invest in traditional assets with a variety of exposures, and are open-ended and registered like traditional mutual funds, WisdomTree said in a press release and a blog post.
A transfer agent will keep the primary record of share ownership in its own books and records but, unlike traditional mutual funds, also will maintain a secondary record of the shares on either the Stellar or Ethereum blockchains.
The nine new digital funds are:
- WisdomTree 3-7 Year Treasury Digital Fund (WTTSX)
- WisdomTree 7-10 Year Treasury Digital Fund (WTSTX)
- WisdomTree Long Term Treasury Digital Fund (WTLGX)
- WisdomTree Floating Rate Treasury Digital Fund (FLTTX)
- WisdomTree TIPS Digital Fund (TIPSX)
- WisdomTree 500 Digital Fund (SPXUX)
- WisdomTree Technology and Innovation 100 Digital Fund (TECHX)
- WisdomTree Short-Duration Income Digital Fund (WTSIX)
- WisdomTree S&P 500 Twitter Sentiment Digital Fund (TWTRX)
Consistent with WTSYX, the first six funds on the list have no management fees, the company said, adding that WisdomTree affiliates expect to charge other fees, such as fees for facilitating transactions. No other information on fees or expense ratios was available for the nine newly announced products, a company representative told ThinkAdvisor via email.
The firm's online information about WTSYX says that fund has a 0% expense ratio and requires a $25 minimum investment, with brokerage commissions expected to apply on all fund share purchase and sell orders. WisdomTree says WTSX won't invest in any assets that rely on blockchain technology, such as cryptocurrencies.
"These nine new digital funds exhibit the type of curated experience we expect to be able to provide to WisdomTree Prime users, all bringing mainstream assets into the evolving digital ecosystem," Will Peck, WisdomTree's digital assets chief, said in a release.
