ARK has received approval from the U.S. SEC for the tokenization of venture capital fund share classes

ARK Investment Management has submitted a waiver application to the U.S. SEC, seeking to issue tokenized share classes for its venture capital fund, ARK Venture Fund. The SEC issued a related notice on August 24 and set September 18 as the deadline for hearing requests. The fund is a continuously offered closed-end interval fund, with total assets of $562 million as of January 31.

The application proposes to establish two categories: the exchange category will be listed on national securities exchanges, while the tokenized category will record ownership through distributed ledger technology, allowing for peer-to-peer transfers between registered alternative trading systems or whitelisted wallets. Tokenized shares will be issued at net asset value, exempt from sales fees, distributed by registered brokers or fund transfer agents, and will bear the costs of trading fees and other expenses. ARK seeks relief under Sections 6(c), 18, and 17(d) of the Investment Company Act and Rules 23c-3 and 17d-1, with Dechert serving as legal counsel.

The application does not specify a tokenization service provider or blockchain, only listing the categories of "tokenization agent" and "fund transfer agent" fees. Currently, BNY Mellon serves as the fund transfer agent, manager, and custodian. The ARK Venture Fund holds equity in Securitize and $10 million in convertible notes; Securitize is the transfer agent for the BlackRock BUIDL Fund. The SEC has not yet formally approved the industry's anticipated tokenization "innovation waiver" framework, and relevant rules are still being advanced.