ARK Investment Management has filed an application with the SEC to issue a special class of shares in its venture fund, where ownership will be recorded using distributed ledger technology. As reported by The Defiant, the SEC published a notice of the application on August 24 and set a deadline of September 18 for submitting hearing requests. The ARK Venture Fund, at the time of filing (May 20, with amendments dated June 11 and August 7), managed assets valued at $562M as of January 31.
The company chose the standard route via an exemptive application rather than waiting for the regulatory framework the SEC has promised but has yet to release. In the application, ARK requests permission to create two new share classes: an Exchange Class, which can be listed on a national exchange, and a Tokenized Class with blockchain-based ownership, tradable on alternative trading systems (Regulation ATS), other trading venues, or via direct transfers between approved wallets. ARK emphasized that it is not seeking permission to list tokenized shares on decentralized finance platforms. The fund's existing D, S, and U share classes were quoted as of May 15 at $49.83, $49.69, and $49.70, respectively, with a combined market value of approximately $912.6M. The ARK Venture Fund – is a separate structure from the flagship ARK Innovation ETF, which manages $6.55B in assets.
The regulatory framework for tokenized securities remains incomplete. The SEC has yet to adopt or formally propose the industry-anticipated "innovation exemption" for tokenized funds. Meanwhile, the ARK Venture Fund already holds a stake in Securitize, which went public on the NYSE in July, and a $10M convertible note at a 5% interest rate, payable in September 2028 (acquired September 30, 2025). Securitize serves as the transfer agent for BlackRock's tokenized BUIDL fund and has signed tokenization agreements for other registered products. On September 1, the SEC also proposed its first revision of transfer agent rules in four decades, citing the use of blockchain in securities offerings; comments are accepted through November 3.