Ark Invest Tokenizes $1.3 Billion ARKVX Venture Fund on Ethereum

Ark Invest is moving its $1.3 billion ARK Venture Fund onto the Ethereum blockchain through tokenization platform Securitize, the firm's first tokenized fund.

Crypto news outlet The Block reported the plan on September 24. Eligible investors will access the fund, known as ARKVX, through Securitize's platform.

ARKVX is an actively managed fund holding stakes in both private and public technology companies. Its positions include OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe and Databricks. The fund's net assets currently stand at roughly $1.3 billion. Ark Invest said the tokenization changes nothing about how the vehicle operates: the investment strategy and portfolio management approach remain the same.

Cathie Wood, Ark Invest's founder and chief executive officer, framed the move as a bet on structural change in finance. Tokenizing the ARK Venture Fund, she said, puts into action the firm's conviction in the evolution of capital markets and, ultimately, their revolution. She added that tokenization has the potential to fundamentally change how investors access and participate in public and private financial markets.

An Extension of an Existing Partnership

The project builds on a relationship that predates the tokenization itself. In October last year, Ark Invest made a strategic investment in Securitize. Since then, the two firms have worked together to expand the market for tokenized securities and real-world assets, or RWAs.

Carlos Domingo, Securitize's co-founder and chief executive officer, said Ark's strategic investment reflected the two firms' shared belief that tokenization can reshape capital markets. With the ARKVX move, he said, the project has turned that conviction into an actual product.

Securitize brings its own institutional credentials to the deal. The company pursued a public listing last year through a $1.25 billion special purpose acquisition company merger. Its shareholders at the time included Ark Invest, BlackRock, Hamilton Lane, Jump Crypto and Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

Why It Matters

The tokenization puts one of the most closely watched venture portfolios in the United States — with exposure to OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe and Databricks — on public blockchain infrastructure. For Ethereum, a major asset manager running a $1.3 billion fund on the network stands as a live test of whether tokenized issuance, transfer and investor access can operate at institutional scale.

Ark Invest and Securitize said the partnership will continue to develop the market for tokenized securities and real-world assets, signaling that ARKVX is likely a first product rather than a one-off experiment.