ARK Investment Management seeks SEC approval for tokenized share class

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-pe...