Cathie Wood Announces ARK Venture Fund Tokenized on Securitize
ARK Invest founder Cathie Wood stated that tokenizing the ARK Venture Fund is a practical application of the belief in the evolution of capital markets. The fund is now available on-chain through Securitize, with holdings, liquidity, and minimum investment amounts remaining unchanged.
The ARK Venture Fund is an actively managed closed-end interval fund with net assets of approximately $1.3 billion. Its holdings include private and public tech companies such as SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe, and Databricks. The tokenized version is issued on Ethereum, with each token backed one-to-one by fund shares held in custody by BNY Mellon. Investors receive an on-chain representation of fund equity, rather than direct shares in portfolio companies.
Wood stated that based on research, tokenization has the potential to fundamentally reshape how investors access and participate in private and public financial markets. Bringing the fund on-chain is a natural extension of its mission to democratize access to innovative channels. ARK has previously made a strategic investment in Securitize, which provides on-chain issuance and investor experience infrastructure.
The fund maintains a quarterly buyback window, typically repurchasing up to about 5% of issued shares. Tokenization alters the format of ownership without changing the underlying assets or rights. The minimum investment starts at $500 and can be completed through USDC. ARK Funds accounts indicate that they ultimately believe all financial markets will be tokenized.
Funds are transitioning from traditional fund records to on-chain ownership on Ethereum. Investors access the same portfolio through Securitize. Securitize has partnered with asset managers, and ARK is converting its tokenization research into products. Traditional brokerage channels and non-chain share holders face relative pressure on access pathways.
Source: Public Information
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Cathie Wood has long publicly advocated for tokenization and disruptive innovation. The ARK Venture Fund was established in 2022 as a closed-end interval fund. In October 2025, ARK made a strategic investment in Securitize, and in September 2026, it announced the tokenization of the fund through Securitize on Ethereum. This move marks its first on-chain fund.
The company is converting existing fund equity into on-chain tokens, supported one-to-one by custodial shares. Resources are shifting from traditional fund share records to blockchain infrastructure. Investors retain the same rights and quarterly liquidity but can access them through an on-chain platform. Wood views this as a practical evolution of capital markets.
Similar cases of asset managers tokenizing funds or shares have emerged on other platforms. Currently, tokenization is in the stage of migrating existing regulated products to on-chain infrastructure.
Essentially, this represents a restructuring of the industry chain. Fund ownership is transitioning from traditional record systems to on-chain representation on Ethereum, while retaining the original regulatory structure and liquidity rules. The mechanism involves converting private market exposure into a form that can be held on-chain through a regulated tokenization platform, expanding access pathways from brokerage channels to wallets and on-chain platforms, without altering the underlying assets or buyback mechanisms.
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- Tokenization changes the format of ownership without altering underlying assets and rights.
- Private market exposure enters new access channels through on-chain representation.
- The same fund retains the same liquidity, with infrastructure shifting from traditional records to on-chain.