Key points

  • ARK says its venture fund is available in tokenized form through Securitize Markets, an SEC-registered broker-dealer.
  • CoinDesk reported that the rollout begins on Ethereum and may later extend to other blockchain networks.
  • The token represents an interest in the fund, not freely tradable shares in OpenAI, Anthropic or the fund's other portfolio companies.

ARK Invest is putting access to its ARK Venture Fund on blockchain rails through Securitize, extending tokenization beyond the Treasury and money-market products that have dominated institutional adoption. CoinDesk reported on September 24 that tokenized interests in the fund will first be issued on Ethereum, with other networks potentially following. ARK's own fund disclosures now say the product is available in tokenized form through Securitize Markets.

A fund interest, not tokenized startup shares

The distinction matters. Investors are not receiving direct blockchain-based shares in OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe or Databricks. They are receiving a digital representation of an interest in ARKVX, an actively managed closed-end interval fund that owns a broader mix of private and public companies. ARK's portfolio page confirms that OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe and Databricks are among the fund's private-company holdings, alongside businesses spanning artificial intelligence, space, fintech and biotechnology.

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Securitize supplies the issuance and investor infrastructure. ARK identifies Securitize Markets as an SEC-registered broker-dealer and a member of FINRA and SIPC. CoinDesk said the structure is intended to give eligible investors blockchain-based access to the fund while preserving the underlying portfolio and fund wrapper. That moves the ownership record and investor experience onchain; it does not transform the individual portfolio companies into freely transferable tokens.

Tokenization does not erase the liquidity rules

ARK's legal disclosures put an important boundary around the launch. The fund is continuously offered but has limited liquidity, its shares are not listed on a securities exchange and ARK says it does not expect a secondary market to develop. Investors should not assume that a token can be sold at any time merely because it sits on a blockchain. Redemptions remain governed by the fund's repurchase policy, and investors can lose some or all of their capital.

Those restrictions make this a test of distribution and record-keeping more than a promise of round-the-clock trading. Tokenization can streamline onboarding, ownership records and settlement, but the legal rights still come from the regulated fund interest. Any future onchain market would have to operate within transfer controls, investor-eligibility rules and the fund's own offering documents.

The digital channel also does not make the product inexpensive. ARK lists a 2.90% net expense ratio after fee waivers and reimbursements, with a 3.49% gross expense ratio in the most recent prospectus. The company says the fund is distributed through advisers and other channels, including Titan and SoFi for retail access, while Securitize provides the tokenized route. Investors still need to evaluate fees, eligibility and redemption terms separately from the technology used to record ownership.

Why the rollout matters

The deal widens the range of assets being brought onto public blockchain infrastructure. Early institutional products were often backed by cash or short-dated government debt, where valuation and redemption mechanics are relatively straightforward. A venture fund introduces less liquid holdings, periodic repurchases and harder-to-value private companies. That makes the operational benefits of tokenization more visible, but it also exposes the limits of treating every tokenized security like a liquid crypto asset.

For ARK, the arrangement offers another channel to reach eligible investors seeking exposure to private technology companies. For Securitize and Ethereum, it is a high-profile example of regulated fund administration moving onchain. The open question is whether investors value the digital format when the underlying product remains costly, risky and intentionally less liquid than an exchange-traded fund.

Sources

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