ARK Invest Tokenizes Its Venture Fund With Stakes in OpenAI and Anthropic

Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest is moving its ARK Venture Fund (ARKVX) onto blockchain rails, giving investors a new way to reach private tech names such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe and Databricks. Securitize will run the onchain issuance and the investor experience. The fund will launch on Ethereum first, and other networks may follow.

Wood called the move a natural step toward opening up access to disruptive innovation. Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo said the appeal is diversification: if you can’t tell whether OpenAI or Anthropic will win the AI race, you get both in one pool.

What Tokenized Fund Interests Really Mean

ARKVX is an actively managed interval fund holding both private and public companies. Tokenizing it does not put those companies’ shares onchain or make them freely tradable. Investors receive a blockchain-based record of their stake in the fund. Domingo said the assets stay private, but the investor’s position becomes liquid. Securitize also plans to publish a daily net asset value and let fund interests trade on blockchain-based markets.

Growing Tokenization Trend on Wall Street

Early products like BlackRock’s BUIDL and Franklin Templeton’s BENJI focused on Treasuries and money-market funds. Firms are now pushing into equities and private markets. Citi projects tokenized securities could hit $5.5 trillion by 2030 in its base case. Last week, the SEC also introduced a five year innovation exemption that lets certain tokenized U.S. stocks trade on purpose built onchain venues.

The deal builds on an existing tie. ARK made a strategic investment in Securitize last year and agreed to bring more regulated products onchain.