According to CoinDesk, WisdomTree, one of the ten issuers of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), anticipates its product to gain more success in the second half of the year due to adoption by financial advisor platforms. Will Peck, WisdomTree's head of digital assets, stated that the fund manager's WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund (BTCW) is designed for advisor distribution, and many platforms have not yet allowed the trading of new products. Despite not having a significant balance sheet or seed money, Peck said the fund has seen strong trading in recent days and is performing as expected.
Out of the ten bitcoin ETFs, WisdomTree's BTCW has attracted the lowest amount of assets under management (AUM) at approximately $12.8 million (296 bitcoin), according to Bloomberg Intelligence data. Franklin Templeton has the second-lowest AUM with $64.5 million, while BlackRock and Fidelity lead with over $3 billion and $2.7 billion AUM, respectively. Grayscale, which converted its Grayscale Bitcoin Fund (GBTC) into an ETF, started with $30 billion in AUM but has lost about $10 billion since ETF trading began on January 11.
Peck remains optimistic about WisdomTree's competitiveness, stating that it is still early in the race and expects more advisory platforms to allow ETF trading in about six months, giving WisdomTree an advantage over other issuers. He believes that platforms are becoming increasingly comfortable with bitcoin as an asset class and that it is only a matter of time before they are more widely available. Peck also mentioned having positive conversations with financial advisors and financial advisor platforms.
