The new index fund aims to track the performance of key crypto companies.
Major US investment firm VanEck is venturing a new attempt at a cryptocurrency-related exchange-traded fund (ETF).
According to a filing to that effect with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which it made public on 21 January, the proposed VanEck ETF will be called the „Digital Assets ETF“. The new index fund would track the price of the „Global Digital Assets Equity Index“, which is operated by the VanEck subsidiary MV Index Solutions.
As the application states, the new index fund would invest at least 80 % of the available assets in securities covered by the associated index. The Global Digital Assets Equity Index is in turn a cross-section of companies in the crypto industry.
VanEck explains in this context that the term „digital asset companies“ means companies that operate or manufacture crypto trading platforms, crypto payment services, crypto mining, crypto software, crypto hardware or other related services in the industry.
To be included in the index, a company must derive at least 50% of its revenue from cryptocurrency-related projects, or have the potential to derive that level of revenue from crypto projects.
„Companies that generate less than 50% of their revenue from the crypto industry, including hardware manufacturers and payment service providers, can still be included in the index to bring it to a minimum number,“ VanEck adds to this effect.
The asset management firm is known to have repeatedly applied for a bitcoin (BTC)-based ETF in the US. After failing to do so several times, VanEck applied again on 31 December 2020. As Cointelegraph had reported, the investment firm is currently the subject of a lawsuit brought by former business partner SolidX.