ARK Invest Puts $1.3B Venture Fund Holding SpaceX and OpenAI on Ethereum

Through Securitize, ARK Invest is tokenizing the ARK Venture Fund and placing it on the Ethereum blockchain. The fund holds stakes in OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX.

Shares of OpenAI and Anthropic are not publicly traded on any exchange. ARK and Securitize announced the move on Sept. 24. Bloomberg estimated the fund's value at approximately $1.3 billion.

What Tokenization of the ARK Venture Fund Means for Investors

Tokenization records ownership as a digital token on a blockchain, a public ledger anyone can inspect. Qualified investors purchasing through Securitize receive exposure to the fund's portfolio in this way, according to the announcement.

The portfolio is predominantly private. According to ARK's holdings file, about 78% of the fund was in companies without a public stock ticker as of August 31. SpaceX was the largest holding at 7.54%, followed by OpenAI at 5.26% and Anthropic at 3.86%.

ARK first ventured into this space in September 2022. It launched the fund with a $500 minimum, describing venture capital as a market that had long been reserved for wealthy investors, its announcement said.

Exiting the fund is the drawback. As an interval fund, it repurchases shares only at predetermined intervals. Its prospectus schedules those buybacks quarterly, and the release warns they may be oversubscribed. ARK says it does not expect a secondary market to develop.

Access also comes at a higher cost. ARK's fund page lists annual expenses of 2.9% after fee waivers.

Why ARK Sees Promise in Tokenized Funds

An SEC order dated September 21 permits the fund to issue a tokenized share class. That class may be traded on alternative trading systems, which are private electronic venues operating outside of stock exchanges.

“Based on our research, tokenization has the potential to reshape fundamentally the way that investors access and participate in both private and public financial markets,” said Cathie Wood, founder, CEO and CIO of Ark Invest.

Securitize has prior experience with tokenization. It tokenized BlackRock's BUIDL fund on Ethereum in March 2024. ARK disclosed a strategic investment in Securitize in October 2025, and Securitize shares have rallied since the SEC opened the door for tokenized stock trading on Sept. 17.

The fund was already growing quickly. SEC filings show net assets increased from $208 million in July 2025 to $558 million by January 2026.