VanEck Launches a Long-Term Digital Assets Fund Focused on Avalanche

Asset manager VanEck is launching a long-term digital assets fund focused on Avalanche to back real businesses over hype-driven tokens.

Asset manager VanEck is getting ready to launch a long-term digital assets fund that will be investing in promising businesses on the Avalanche network. The fund, named the PurposeBuilt Fund, is set to begin in June with the goal of backing interesting projects over hype-driven tokens.

As shared in a press release, the New York-based firm will be investing in liquid tokens and venture-backed crypto projects in sectors such as gaming, payments, AI, and financial services — mainly around or after a token generation event. The fund will also deploy idle capital on-chain through Avalanche-native real-world asset products, such as tokenized money market funds.

The fund will be keeping an eye out for projects that are focused on long-term value and utility, in an effort to bring institutional capital to the next generation of founders building on Avalanche.

“We’re not interested in chasing the latest fads or short-term trends,” said Pranav Kanade, portfolio manager of the VanEck Digital Assets Alpha Fund. “The next wave of value in crypto will come from real businesses, not more infrastructure or hype-driven tokens. Avalanche has become a magnet for thoughtful builders, and with the VanEck PurposeBuilt Fund, we’re bringing capital and conviction to the founders creating lasting value, not chasing momentum.”

The new vehicle will be managed by the team behind the VanEck Digital Assets Alpha Fund, which has over $100 million in assets under management and launched in 2022. The fund is also designed to provide efficient exposure to the digital assets markets in a diversified manner, focusing on liquid and actively traded digital assets.

The announcement also comes as Grayscale continues its efforts to get a spot Avalanche ETF approved. The digital asset management firm recently filed to convert its Avalanche Trust, launched in August 2024, into a spot exchange-traded fund.

In a filing with Nasdaq on Wednesday (March 29), Grayscale submitted a 19b-4 filing to list the fund and offer regulated exposure to AVAX. The firm’s filing with the exchange comes after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected filings for spot bitcoin ETFs proposed by ARK 21x and Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest earlier this year.