ARK Investment Management has asked the SEC to let it issue a new class of shares in its venture fund with ownership tracked on a distributed ledger. If approved, it would make ARK one of the first US fund managers to offer tokenized shares through a regulated structure, potentially beating heavyweights like BlackRock and Fidelity to the punch.
The firm filed its application on May 20, 2026, later amending it on June 11 and August 7. The SEC published formal notice of the request in the Federal Register on August 26, kicking off a comment and hearing period that is expected to run through mid-September 2026.
What ARK is actually asking for
ARK wants to amend a prior exemptive order it already holds under the Investment Company Act. The existing order allows the ARK Venture Fund to operate with multiple share classes and early withdrawal charges. The new request would add a “Tokenized Class” alongside the fund’s current “Exchange Class” shares, which trade on national securities exchanges.
The Tokenized Class would record share ownership using distributed ledger technology. These tokenized shares would be eligible for trading on SEC-registered alternative trading systems. Peer-to-peer transfers between approved wallets would also be permitted, though every wallet involved would need to clear KYC and AML checks.
The ARK Venture Fund in context
The ARK Venture Fund launched in 2022 as an interval fund focused on both public and private companies in the innovation economy. ARK’s version targets quarterly repurchase offers at roughly 5% of net asset value, with a minimum investment of just $500.
The fund also has skin in the tokenization game beyond just issuing shares. As of late 2025, ARK held approximately $10 million in Securitize, a platform that specializes in tokenizing real-world assets.
Why this could reshape fund distribution
Right now, buying and selling shares of interval funds or other semi-liquid vehicles is clunky. You’re often locked into the fund manager’s repurchase schedule, and secondary trading options are thin. Tokenized shares trading on registered ATS platforms would create a proper secondary market, giving investors a way out between those quarterly windows.
If the SEC grants this exemptive relief, it essentially creates a regulatory template. Other fund managers, including the BlackRocks and Fidelitys of the world who have been circling the tokenization space, would have a clear path to follow.
A deadline for hearing requests is anticipated around mid-September 2026. If no hearing is ordered, the SEC could act on the application relatively quickly after that. If a hearing is called, the timeline stretches considerably.