VanEck received regulatory effectiveness for its new Onchain Economy ETF, an actively managed fund designed to give investors broad exposure to companies powering the digital asset ecosystem.

Regulatory effectiveness means the SEC has approved the fund’s registration, allowing it to begin offering shares to the public.

Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s head of digital assets research and NODE’s active portfolio manager, shared the development in an April 16 post.

According to the filing, the firm intends to launch the ETF on May 14 under the ticker NODE.

NODE

The actively managed fund will seek exposure to equities tied to the crypto industry and may allocate up to 25% of its assets to crypto-linked exchange-traded products (ETP).

Sigel said that NODE will select 30 to 60 names from over 130 companies operating in the on-chain and digital infrastructure sectors.

These include publicly listed exchanges, miners, data center operators, payment firms, hardware manufacturers, asset managers, and firms holding crypto on their balance sheets. The ETF will charge a management fee of 0.69%.

The fund’s active approach aims to track the transition of traditional financial and industrial operations toward blockchain-enabled models.

In contrast to spot crypto ETFs, NODE will not hold direct crypto positions and instead target public companies with strategic exposure to digital assets or blockchain infrastructure.

VanEck initially filed for the Onchain Economy ETF with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Jan. 15. The ETF builds on the structure of existing crypto equity products while adopting a broader investment scope and revised branding strategy.

Filing and investment scope

According to the filing, the fund intends to allocate at least 80% of its net assets to securities defined as “Digital Transformation Companies” or digital asset instruments.

The filing describes Digital Transformation Companies as firms that generate revenue from activities involving crypto, blockchain, or other distributed ledger technologies. These may include small- and mid-cap issuers, foreign entities, and emerging market stocks. 

The ETF also permits investments in securities denominated in foreign currencies, American and global depositary receipts, and select commodity-linked instruments.

The ETF includes an offshore subsidiary domiciled in the Cayman Islands. This structure enables indirect exposure to digital asset instruments such as commodity futures, swaps, and pooled investment vehicles while complying with US federal tax regulations that limit direct exposure by registered investment companies.

VanEck specified that investments in this subsidiary would not exceed 25% of the fund’s total assets at the end of each quarter. The fund will exclude stablecoins from its investment universe and prioritize companies that demonstrate material participation in blockchain-based business models.

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The cryptocurrency unit of the American financial services company Robinhood is now in the clear as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has closed its investigation into the business.

According to a blog post by Robinhood, the SEC revealed in a letter dated February 21 that it had wrapped up its investigation into the firm’s crypto operations and did not intend to bring any enforcement action against the company.

SEC Closes Investigation Against Robinhood

Recall that the SEC hit Robinhood with a Wells Notice in May 2024, indicating a threat of legal action over the firm’s alleged securities violations.

CryptoPotato reported that Robinhood had allegedly violated Sections 15(a) and 17A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which prohibited the company from inducing the sale of securities unless registered with the SEC and defrauding customers of their money through material omissions or misstatements.

Possible remedies for the charges, if filed, included disgorgement, civil money penalties, a cease-and-desist order, and limitations on activities. The Wells Notice came 15 months after the SEC sent an investigative subpoena to Robinhood regarding its crypto operations.

While responding to the agency’s actions last year, Robinhood said it was disappointed because it had made attempts to register its business and comply with the agency’s regulations. Regardless, the company insisted that the SEC’s case was weak because the assets on its platform were not securities.

In the recent blog post announcing the Commission’s latest decision, Robinhood maintained that it had made difficult choices to delist certain assets classified as securities under the former SEC chair Gary Gensler, even though it disagreed with the argument that most crypto transactions were subject to federal securities laws.

Robinhood Maintains Innocence

Nevertheless, the company acknowledged the transition from a period of regulation by enforcement to a time of “regulation by regulation.” Crypto market participants will be provided with a clear regulatory framework, as promised by President Donald Trump during his election campaign.

“We applaud the staff’s decision to close this investigation with no action. Let me be crystal clear—this investigation never should have been opened. Robinhood Crypto always has and will always respect federal securities laws and never allowed transactions in securities,” Robinhood’s chief legal officer Dan Gallagher said, adding “As we explained to the SEC, any case against Robinhood Crypto would have failed.”

Meanwhile, Robinhood is not the only crypto company getting pardoned by the SEC. The securities agency has paused its lawsuit against the crypto exchange Binance and intends to withdraw a similar case against the trading platform Coinbase.