Will ETFs Survive Tokenization?

How will tokenization reshape investment products and the asset management industry? In this episode, Claudio Tognella speaks with Aaron Renkers, Head of Investments Europe at VanEck, a family-owned global asset manager with over USD 250 billion in assets under management. VanEck is known for backing investment themes before they become mainstream. It was among the first to launch a gold fund, started its first ETF in 2006, and today offers ETFs on listed crypto companies and active digital asset strategies. It has also built an NFT collectibles platform, invested in early stage crypto companies, launched a venture fund and tokenized a money market fund. Aaron argues that the full benefits of blockchain for funds will take time to materialize, but that the direction is clear. Even ETFs still carry emails, duplicate processes and middlemen. Moving them on chain enables atomic settlement, efficient collateral movement and eventually 24/7 trading, once liquidity follows. Beyond efficiency, he sees better products: investors who can vote across all underlying companies of an ETF token with one click, more personalized portfolios and independent apps that check performance and best execution on public data. On the market today, he cautions that many tokenized securities are debt instruments or certificates that do not provide proper ownership. He expects the first true tokenized ETFs in the US, with Europe following one to two years later. He closes with a vision of on-chain vaults, automated bidding for portfolio building blocks and the combination of blockchain and AI. Subscribe on Spotify to Inside Digital Assets to never miss an episode here https://open.spotify.com/show/0gHCvwyeuAP6yssca2E2Kj