The folks at a $116.6-billion-AUM (as of April 3), 70-year-old fund firm are expanding their digital-asset-focused product suite, this time with an active fund.

Matthew Sigel VanEck Head of Digital Assets Research

This morning, Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research for VanEck [profile], unveiled the launch of the VanEck OnChain Economy ETF (NODE on the Cboe BZX). New York City-based Van Eck Absolute Return Advisers Corporation (VEARA, a subsidiary of Van Eck Associates Corporation, aka VEAC) serves as NODE's investment advisor and administrator, while Sigel serves as PM.

NODE's inception date was yesterday (May 13), and on day one it had about $265,000 in AUM. The new ETF comes with an expense ratio of 79 basis points.

Sigel stresses that NODE's "portfolio will not be static." The fund is designed to invest in "companies powering the onchain economy," which includes crypto miners, crypto exchanges, infrastructure, fintech players, and more. (Yet the fund will not invest directly in digital assets or commodities.)

"As new companies enter the universe through IPOs, spinouts or strategy shifts, we will continuously update our investable universe," Sigel states. "We will also adjust beta and volatility to maintain responsible exposure to bitcoin and to businesses driving the growth of the onchain economy, avoiding over-allocation to high-beta names during frothy markets and preserving buying power for future opportunities."

"The goal is to offer a risk profile investors can stick with, alongside the liquidity and transparency of an ETF," Sigel adds. "By taking a broader view of the onchain economy, NODE can deliver both diversification and liquidity. Categorizing assets by their bitcoin sensitivity lets us fine-tune the portfolio across market cycles, with a goal of ramping up volatility when risk is rewarded and dialing it back when caution is key."

VanEck offers other cryptocurrency-related and blockchain-related ETFs. Sigel puts the launch of NODE in the context of a four-year-old, passive fund: the VanEck Digital Transformation ETF (DAPP).

NODE is an actively managed, non-diversified series of VanEck Funds. The new ETF's other service providers include:

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as independent accounting firm;

State Street Bank and Trust Company as custodian, fund accountant, securities lending agent, and transfer agent;

Stradley Ronon Stevens and Young, LLP as counsel; and

Van Eck Securities Corporation as distributor.

 

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