Former Grayscale executive and head of law at Reed Smith Celisa Morin predicts that TradFi institutions would probably use public blockchains in the same way as BlackRock. According to a former Grayscale executive, traditional financial institutions are more interested than ever in tokenizing assets on public blockchains. Celisa Morin, who held the position of Vice President of Platform Distribution at Grayscale until the middle of 2023, told Cointelegraph that more companies may choose to tokenize assets on public chains rather than private ones as a result of a new BlackRock-led narrative among TradFi institutions. With JPMorgan’s Onyx, I believe we are witnessing a predilection for private chains. However, I believe that this was the story a few years ago. Right now, I believe the public blockchains are the main factor.”
It Would Make Sense For More Established TradFi Organization To Emulate BlackRock
Morin, who presently leads the cryptocurrency division of multinational law firm Reed Smith, explains why it would make sense for bigger, more established TradFi organizations to emulate BlackRock, which on March 18 tokenized its $100 million “BUIDL” fund on the Ethereum network. Dune Analytics data shows that the BUIDL fund now has $288 million in assets. Launching a fund on Ethereum was not without controversy for BlackRock; the asset manager’s on-chain wallet was soon the focus of several spoofs from cryptocurrency enthusiasts. Legally questionable transactions from the mixer Tornado Cash, which is currently sanctioned by OFAC, as well as a variety of cryptocurrencies from real-world asset (RWA) tokenization initiatives and meme-coins, were deposited into BlackRock’s public wallet.
