VanEck files for Onchain Economy ETF with the SEC

VanEck, a leading asset management company, has recently filed a proposal with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch a new product known as the Onchain Economy ETF. The new ETF will invest in digital asset transformation businesses and products, giving investors access to the emerging digital economy.

The Onchain Economy ETF, which will trade under the ticker NODE, plans to invest at least 80% of its net assets in companies and assets that support the digital asset economy. The fund was proposed on January 15 and will have two main investment streams: “Digital Transformation Companies” and “ Digital Asset Instruments”.

The Digital Transformation Companies include companies involved in activities that are vital to the digital asset industry. Some are crypto exchanges, payment gateway service providers, mining companies, and those that provide software or infrastructure for digital asset functioning. 

The ETF’s investment strategy also includes exposure to companies involved in energy infrastructure, data centers, and other technologies supporting the digital asset market. While other digital asset funds will invest in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, the Onchain Economy ETF will not do so directly. 

Instead, it will gain exposure to digital assets through companies and instruments closely related to the sector. This approach is useful as the fund can focus on firms essential for the expansion of the digital currency industry but do not hold digital currencies. VanEck’s head of digital assets research, Matthew Sigel, said that more information about the ETF would be disclosed in the coming weeks. 

Increased interest in Crypto ETFs

VanEck’s application is just one of many crypto-related ETFs that have been proposed to the SEC. Financial firms are looking up as they expect new regulations under the newly reelected administration.

Bitwise Asset Management applied for its 10 Crypto Index Fund ETF in the last quarter of 2024. These major digital assets are listed in the index, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA). 

Likewise, WisdomTree filed an application for an XRP-related ETF in December 2024, and Grayscale applied to transform its Solana Trust into an ETF. BlackRock is expected to roll out a Bitcoin ETF product for Canadian investors. The new iShares product will trade on CBOE Canada.

Bitwise also proposed a Bitcoin Standard Corporations ETF, which would track firms that hold Bitcoin in their treasuries. As reported by Cryptopolitan, in just one year, US Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) broke all the rules, holding 1.13 million Bitcoins. 

Bitcoin ETFs alone have already grown larger than gold ETFs in terms of AUM. Gold ETFs, for instance, have only taken 20 years to get to $128 billion in AUM. Bitcoin ETFs got to $107 billion in one year only.