ARK Invest Moves Venture Fund Onchain via Ethereum

The initiative follows a September 21 SEC order permitting ARK to offer a tokenized share class. While the fund includes high-profile holdings such as Stripe and Databricks, investors do not gain direct ownership of individual company shares. Instead, the tokens represent an interest in the actively managed fund itself. Cathie Wood, ARK’s CEO, framed the development as a practical application of the firm's research into evolving market access, leveraging Securitize’s infrastructure to manage the investor experience.

Despite the blockchain integration, significant liquidity constraints remain. ARKVX operates as a closed-end interval fund, meaning investors cannot freely trade tokens on secondary markets. The SEC approval does not establish an open exchange for these shares, and repurchase offers remain subject to fund discretion and capacity. Furthermore, investors must still meet specific eligibility requirements to access the fund through the Securitize platform. This partnership deepens an existing relationship between the two firms; ARK previously took an equity stake in Securitize, which is currently pursuing a public listing under the ticker SECZ.