ARK Invest tokenizes $1.3B venture fund on Ethereum

ARK Invest has announced the tokenization of its ARK Venture Fund (ARKVX) on the Ethereum blockchain in partnership with Securitize. This move allows select investors to gain blockchain-enabled access to a portfolio that includes private companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe, and Databricks, as well as public holdings like SpaceX and Tesla.

The fund, which held approximately $1.3 billion in net assets as of late August 2024, is an actively managed closed-end interval fund. Rather than tokenizing direct ownership in the underlying companies, the structure offers tokenized investor interest in the regulated fund itself.

Securitize will manage the issuance of the ARKVX tokens, with subscriptions handled via USDC. Access remains restricted to eligible investors through third-party investment platforms. Cathie Wood, CEO of ARK Invest, noted that tokenization could significantly alter how investors access both private and public markets.