$150B Wall Street Giant WisdomTree Moves Crypto to Core Business as Assets Surge 25x

WisdomTree’s crypto strategy has moved decisively beyond experimentation and into the firm’s core business, with profitability now in sight, according to comments from CEO Jonathan Steinberg at the Ondo Summit in New York on Tuesday.

Speaking during a fireside chat, Steinberg said the asset manager’s digital asset operations have reached a critical scale after several years of heavy investment. 

“We want to continue to scale,” he said, pointing to rapid growth in assets tied to the firm’s blockchain-based products. 

“Last year, we went from like $30 million in assets to about $750 million in assets.” 

While WisdomTree is not yet generating profits from its crypto business, Steinberg said the company is now “in line of sight of taking this to a profitable business.”

Digital Assets Become A Core Strategy

For WisdomTree, which oversees roughly $150 billion in assets under management, the shift marks a clear strategic commitment. Unlike firms that have limited their exposure to exploratory pilots or single-token offerings, WisdomTree has built a broad digital asset platform that includes tokenized funds, wallet infrastructure, and cross-chain capabilities.

Steinberg stressed that the firm’s approach is guided by long-term conviction rather than short-term market conditions. 

“It’s still early days, but it’s not an experiment now. We have conviction,” he said. “So we believe eventually everything will go on chain.” 

That belief has shaped WisdomTree’s willingness to invest ahead of demand and expand its presence across multiple blockchain ecosystems.

Tokenized AUM Surges To $770 Million

The payoff from that strategy is beginning to show in reported figures. 

In its most recent earnings presentation, WisdomTree disclosed that total tokenized assets under management reached approximately $770 million by the end of last year, representing a 25-fold increase from 2024. 

The growth places the firm among the most advanced traditional asset managers in the tokenization space, at a time when many competitors remain in early testing phases.

Steinberg said the firm’s focus has been on building products that can scale within regulated markets rather than chasing speculative activity. Tokenized funds, he noted, offer efficiency gains and programmability that traditional structures cannot easily replicate, particularly when combined with compliant on-chain infrastructure.

Expanding Beyond Ethereum And Into Solana

As part of its expansion, WisdomTree has moved beyond a single-chain strategy. The firm has broadened its blockchain footprint to include networks such as Solana, reflecting a desire to offer faster settlement times and lower transaction costs for tokenized assets. 

Steinberg framed this as a practical decision rooted in usability and scalability rather than ideological alignment with any one ecosystem.

The multi-chain approach is also designed to future-proof the firm’s offerings as institutional adoption of blockchain technology accelerates. By supporting multiple networks, WisdomTree aims to ensure its products remain interoperable as standards evolve.

Distribution Through WisdomTree Connect

Distribution has become a central pillar of WisdomTree’s digital asset strategy. The firm recently expanded access to its tokenized funds through WisdomTree Connect, a platform that allows assets to move across self-custodied wallets and institutional platforms. 

The goal is to bridge the gap between crypto-native users and traditional financial institutions, enabling tokenized products to circulate within both environments.

Infrastructure, Compliance, And Financial Modernization

WisdomTree’s strategy has also included early bets on blockchain infrastructure. 

The firm previously acquired Securrency, a compliance-focused tokenization company, which Steinberg described as a foundational step. 

That business was later sold to the DTCC, but the experience helped WisdomTree develop internal expertise around “compliance-aware tokens” and regulated on-chain finance.

For Steinberg, the significance of crypto extends beyond asset management. 

“Really, this is bigger than asset management. This is really about financial services,” he said. He argued that legacy financial institutions are constrained by decades of layered infrastructure, creating an opportunity for blockchain-based modernization across the industry.

Looking ahead, Steinberg emphasized discipline over rapid diversification. Rather than launching a constant stream of new products, WisdomTree plans to focus on scaling what it has already built and driving adoption of its existing tokenized offerings. 

“We just want to continue to scale what we’re doing,” he said.