VanEck files with SEC for ETF that tracks crypto companies' performance

VanEck, a major American investment management firm, is making another attempt to launch a digital asset-related exchange-traded fund, or ETF.

According to a Jan. 21 filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, VanEck’s new ETF is called the Digital Assets ETF. The new fund would track the price and performance of the Global Digital Assets Equity Index run by its subsidiary MV Index Solutions.

According to the document, the new Digital Assets ETF “normally invests” at least 80% of its total assets in securities that comprise the Fund’s benchmark index. The index tracks the performance of the digital assets segment.

VanEck elaborated that digital asset companies refer to companies that operate digital asset exchanges, payment gateways, mining operations, software, equipment and technology or services to the digital asset industry, and others. 

In order to be initially eligible for inclusion in the index, a company must generate at least 50% of its revenues from digital assets projects or projects having the potential to generate such revenues, the filing reads.

“Companies with less than 50% of their revenues from the global digital assets segment, including semiconductor and online money transfer companies, may be added to the Index to reach a minimum component number,” VanEck noted.

VanEck is famous for being the first company to file for a Bitcoin (BTC) ETF in the United States. After several failed attempts, VanEck filed a new Bitcoin ETF application on Dec. 31, 2020. As reported by Cointelegraph, VanEck is facing a lawsuit from blockchain firm and former-partner SolidX over its latest BTC ETF for alleged plagiarism.