The U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), Comptroller of the Currency, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission are in discussions to chart a course toward crypto versions of exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, said SEC chair Jay Clayton.
The plan, so-called “tokenization,” would allow a designated cryptocurrency asset, similar to Bitcoin, to represent a single stock or fund, such as an ETF.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the Franklin Templeton family of mutual funds has filed a proposal with the SEC to offer a tokenized government money market fund. WisdomTree Investments, a manager of ETFs, led a recent funding round for Securrency, a developer of secure tokens.
Tokenized funds would bring greater efficiency, a more robust audit trail, instant transaction settlement, and global liquidity, said Jonathan Steinberg, WisdomTree’s CEO.
The SEC has proven receptive to tokenization plans that protect investors and ensure fair and efficient markets, Steinberg said.
The length of time it will take the SEC and other agencies to formulate regulations permitting tokenization is unknown.
TREND FORECAST: Across the financial spectrum and around the world, as we have long forecast, dirty cash will be replaced by digital trash. (See our 24 March article, “FROM DIRTY CASH TO DIGITAL TRASH.”)
And, in this issue, we report how China is leading the world in the digital cash trend in our article, “CHINA: DIGITAL CURRENCY WORLD LEADER.”
In the new virtual world, cryptocurrencies are valued as hard cash, and there will be virtually no pushback from the general public to accept virtual currencies, back by nothing and printed on nothing.
As the world goes more digital and inflation increases as the value of virtual currencies wildly fluctuate, we forecast there will strong demand for gold and silver, the last of the hard-cash assets.
