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Author: Tom Mitchelhill, CoinTelegraph; Compiled by: Wuzhu, Bitchain Vision
A former Grayscale executive saidTraditional financial institutions are more keen than ever to tokenize assets on public chains.
Celisa Morin, who served as vice president of distribution for Grayscale platform by mid-2023, said in an interview,The new narrative led by BlackRock in TradFi institutions may see more companies seeking tokenize assets on public chains rather than assets on private chains.
“I think we see a preference for private chains like JPMorgan Chase, Onyx. But I do think that’s the narrative from a few years ago. Now, I thinkTo a large extent, public chains are attracted by the attention.”
Morin, now head of the cryptocurrency division of international law firm Reed Smith, explained that it makes sense for large traditional financial institutions to follow BlackRock’s approach – which was launched on the Ethereum network on March 18$100 million in tokenized “BUIDL” fund.
According to Dune Analytics data, the BUIDL Fund currently holds $288 million in assets.
Top tokenized funds for government securities.Source: Dune Analytics
BlackRock’s move to launch funds on Ethereum is not without controversy, and asset management companies’ on-chain wallets quickly became the target of various spoofs for cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
BlackRock Public Wallet deposits include legally suspicious transactions from the now OFAC-approved mixer Tornado Cash, as well as a variety of cryptocurrencies from Real World Assets (RWA) tokenization projects and Memecoin.
Morin said that while choosing to tokenize assets on public chains may pose potential legal issues rather than using private networks that are more conducive to KYC and AML, many companies may follow BlackRock’s approach.
Morin also pointed out thatFranklin Templeton had already taken a “forward thinking” move last October to launch a tokenized money market fund on Polygon, the Ethereum Layer 2 network.
Franklin Templeton’s 11-month-old Franklin On-chain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX) currently has a total of $360.2 million in U.S. Treasury bonds.A total of $1.08 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds have now been tokenized through 17 products.
Ethereum ETF is unlikely to go public in May
Morin is less enthusiastic about spot Ethereum Exchange-traded funds (ETFs), saying they are unlikely to be approved in May.
Morin, who previously worked with the legal team in preparation for Grayscale’s launch of Bitcoin ETFs, agreed with the recent view that a lack of communication between potential fund issuers between the SEC is a bad sign.
Echoing the views of Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, Morin said VanEck was approved by the May 23 deadline as the SEC stopped commenting publiclyThe chances are getting smaller and smaller.
