ARK Invest said on Sept. 24, 2026, that it is tokenizing its ARK Venture Fund (ARKVX) on the Ethereum blockchain, partnering with Securitize, a company that builds infrastructure for tokenized assets. The announcement was published via PR Newswire.

Tokenization refers to recording ownership of a financial asset on a blockchain, so that interests in a fund can be held and transferred in digital form. The tokenized ARK fund will launch on Ethereum, with Securitize handling onchain issuance and investor services. Ethereum has become a common venue for tokenized funds and other real-world assets in recent years.

The fund had grown to roughly $1.3 billion in assets by late June. Its portfolio includes stakes in OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe and Databricks, among other technology companies. Eligible investors who access the vehicle through Securitize will hold a blockchain-based version of their fund interest.

What Goes Onchain

Investors will not receive blockchain versions of shares in OpenAI, Anthropic or the fund's other portfolio companies. Instead, they receive an onchain representation of their interest in the fund that owns those stakes.

The ARK Venture Fund is not an exchange-traded fund. It is an actively managed closed-end interval fund that invests in both private and public companies, with a target mix of about 80% private companies and 20% public companies.

Liquidity is limited by design. Investors cannot sell shares whenever they want. The fund offers quarterly repurchase windows covering about 5% of outstanding shares, and if too many investors ask to sell at once, requests may be reduced on a prorated basis. Tokenization changes how the interest is recorded, not those terms, so the quarterly windows remain the liquidity route for holders of the onchain version.

'Evolution, if Not Revolution'

"Tokenizing the ARK Venture Fund puts our conviction in the evolution, if not revolution, of capital markets into practice," said Wood, who serves as founder, CEO and chief investment officer of ARK Invest.

Wood said the move is part of the firm's mission to widen access to disruptive innovation. She added that Securitize has built the regulated infrastructure needed to make that possible. The access argument rests on the portfolio itself: OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe and Databricks are all privately held, so fund structures are the main route through which outside investors can hold that exposure — and the Securitize partnership now puts it onchain for eligible investors.

Carlos Domingo, co-founder and CEO of Securitize, said ARK's investment in his company reflected a shared belief in tokenization. He said the launch shows how asset managers can move established investment products onto modern capital markets infrastructure.

The product follows a strategic investment ARK Invest made in Securitize in October 2025, a deal that set the stage for the offering. Securitize manages about $5 billion in assets as of August 2026 and works with firms such as Apollo, BlackRock, BNY, Hamilton Lane, KKR and VanEck. That roster means ARKVX joins a tokenization platform already serving some of the biggest names in traditional asset management. The company says it is the only firm operating regulated digital securities infrastructure in both the U.S. and the European Union.

The Fund's Performance Since Launch

The ARK Venture Fund launched on Sept. 23, 2022, with a net asset value near $20 per share. By Sept. 23, 2026, the NAV stood at about $60.50 — roughly three times its starting level, before accounting for share class and distribution differences.

have varied from year to year. The fund gained about 61% in 2023, 7% in 2024 and 56% in 2025.

The fund carries a net expense ratio of about 2.90% and offers limited liquidity. Valuations of its private holdings can change sharply when portfolio companies raise new funding. For the tokenized version, those valuation swings would pass straight through to the onchain interest, making portfolio-company funding rounds a key item to track.

In the second quarter of 2026, the fund returned 20.21%. ARK Invest named SpaceX and Anthropic as the biggest contributors to that gain. So far in 2026, the fund is up around 32% through late September.

Eligible investors can find details on the tokenized version at securitize.io/arkvx.

Source: Blockonomi