WisdomTree CEO says crypto is going ‘mainstream’

Jonathan Steinberg, the founder and CEO of WisdomTree, believes that crypto is going mainstream and that adoption will gather pace amid further regulatory clarity.

Steinberg shared this view during an interview with CNBC’s ‘Money Movers’, commenting on Bitcoin (BTC) performance and Trump’s speech at Bitcoin 2024. He also talked about crypto going mainstream as an asset class amid current trends such as tokenization.

Trump’s speech key, Steinberg says

According to Steinberg, former President Donald Trump’s speech at the Bitcoin 2024 conference last week struck an ambitious tone and highlighted the overall sentiment around cryptocurrency’s future.

The WisdomTree CEO lauded Trump’s pro-crypto stance, noting that more than just his appearance at the Bitcoin event, the Republican nominee added a top politician’s voice to the industry’s growth. Trump vowed to fire SEC chair Gary Gensler if he wins in November’s election.

“More importantly,” Steinberg said, ”is that he’s promising regulatory clarity for crypto and digital assets broadly. I think that will have a very positive effect, not just on the crypto asset class, which is only half of the story but also blockchain-enabled finance that WisdomTree is a very early leader in.”

Bitcoin best performing asset in 15 years

In Steinberg’s opinion, Bitcoin has showcased remarkable growth since its inception 15 years ago. Within this time, BTC has emerged as the best performing asset, beating private equity. But there’s more to this feat, Steinberg noted.

“What’s so interesting about Bitcoin, with no employees and no institutional buying, it raised more than a trillion dollars. And now crypto as an asset class is well over $2 trillion. I think it’s going mainstream and will continue to go mainstream in years ahead.”

Steinberg also commented on crypto adoption across the world.

According to him, there’s nothing really complex about crypto, blockchain or things like decentralized finance and tokenization. What has previously driven people away from embracing the market and the different ecosystems built around it, is the skepticism from regulators.

“There’s nothing more transparent than blockchain and bitcoin in general,” he explained.

In his opinion, regulatory clarity and the launch of crypto exchange-traded products are some of the factors that will see the digital asset class continue to go mainstream.

WisdomTree ETFs market growth

WisdomTree, which provides several ETPs, including a spot Bitcoin ETF, recently reported its total assets under management at over $109 billion.

The New York-based firm recorded net inflows of $1.9 billion for its U.S.-listed ETFs in the second quarter of 2024 and reached total net inflows of $4.2 billion into its ETFs.

According to data by SosoValue, the WisdomTree spot Bitcoin ETF BTCW currently holds over $89.3 million worth of Bitcoin and has recorded net inflows of over $72.5 million.