How WisdomTree Provides Financial Experiences by Integrating Investments and Payments

Asset manager and financial services provider WisdomTree is in the midst of building out its offerings around digital assets and mobile-based fintech–and Galileo is one of the company’s key partners enabling that push.

Historically serving mainly financial advisors via its exchange-traded fund business, WisdomTree has expanded its scope with newer offerings aimed at consumer audiences, including digital, blockchain-enabled mutual funds and tokenized assets, as well blockchain-native digital wallet, WisdomTree Prime–for which Galileo provides key support services. 

Galileo recently spoke with Will Peck, Head of Digital Assets at Wisdom Tree about how the company is expanding its offerings and charging into the increasingly digital future of financial services–with Galileo at its side. 

Mission: “Wisdom Tree exists to provide a better way to invest,” said Peck. “We help our clients–through the quality of our services and the quality of our products–have a better investing experience, both through technology and through the actual underlying investment methodology.”

WisdomTree’s current emphasis on the consumer side is centered on bridging the gap between investing and other key financial services for consumers.

“What we're hoping to provide uniquely to retail customers is a truly integrated saving, spending, and investing experience,” Peck noted. “Bringing these together in a more native way unlocks a lot of customer benefits.”

Founding: Initially incorporated in 1985 as Financial Data Systems Inc., the firm originally operated as a financial media company and stock index provider. In 2006, the renamed WisdomTree launched its first exchange-traded funds, and the company currently manages nearly $100 billion under investment globally.  

What Galileo Does for Them: Galileo provides key support services for the WisdomTree Prime e-wallet, which offers demand deposit accounts, money movement capabilities and Visa-branded debit cards. Galileo’s APIs are used for authorizing and settling transactions made via the cards.

“We’re connecting yield-bearing assets and funds to the debit card in a more integrated fashion,” Peck noted. “Customers with funds sitting in a checking account earning zero are missing out on income. We're aiming to bring a yield-bearing asset experience to retail customers, where they can immediately convert it into something usable for payments and transactions.

The Road Ahead: Wisdom Tree was founded as a disruptor, and we believe blockchain and tokenization will be the next disruptor in the asset management space,” observed Peck. “We intend to be a leader in this space, leveraging blockchain-native technology for efficiency gains and benefits like immediate conversion from a yield-bearing fund to a transaction.”