A digital asset manager at Wisdomtree, one of the world’s leading ETF providers with more than $78 billion in assets under management, has described crypto as a key asset.
Wisdomtree and the importance of cryptocurrencies
Jason Guthrie, head of digital asset management at investment firm Wisdomtree, spoke about cryptocurrencies during an online event on Monday.
Wisdomtree is a New York-based investment fund and one of the world’s top managers of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and exchange-traded products (ETPs). For several years, the company has been focusing on its products that invest not only in traditional assets, but also in digital ones. In December, the SEC rejected its application for a spot ETF on Bitcoin.
Guthrie said:
“We are past the point where there is speculation around whether or not this is a trend that’s here to stay. Cryptocurrencies have firmly established themselves as a new asset class and it truly is something that people can’t ignore”.
According to the investment firm executive, crypto and digital assets in general will soon be so prominent that many investors will choose their investment firms based on their ability to get them into the digital asset markets.
Nonetheless, the executive acknowledges that the digital asset market is highly speculative and should therefore be approached with the utmost caution and without investing an excessive amount of one’s capital.
Indeed, he adds that:
“I don’t think anybody is out there advocating 50% of somebody’s portfolio should be in cryptocurrency. This is how you account for risk, by making risk-assessed allocations”.
Guthrie explained how according to his firm’s choices, cryptocurrency investments should cover a percentage of invested assets ranging from 5% to 11% for the most aggressive portfolios. He also said he is confident that the percentage of crypto investors will inevitably grow exponentially in the coming years.
Guthrie states that:
“2% or so of the global population is involved in crypto at the moment, that’s only going to grow. Cryptocurrencies have firmly established themselves as a new asset class and it truly is something that people can’t ignore”.
Wisdomtree’s investments
At the end of March, the company launched three new ETPs on Solana, Cardano and Polkadot. The products have been traded on German and Swiss exchanges since 25 March and reached the Euronext exchanges in Amsterdam and Paris a few days later.
These products, as Guthrie himself explained at the time of the launch, were almost exclusively aimed at institutional investors, who are always looking to diversify their investments into new digital assets.
Guthrie finally concluded by saying that:
“It’s not that you get a handful of clients or one big client saying, ‘I really want cardano or polkadot’ specifically, but rather there is this increasing appetite for an ever-expanding product set,” Guthrie said. “The ability for people to respond to market situations, to adjust their portfolio, to have a more robust toolkit I think is by far the loudest message that we get from our client base”.
Source: https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2022/05/04/wisdomtree-crypto-are-assets-no-one-should-ignore/