The folks at an $80.8-billion-AUM (as of August 31), 68-year-old asset manager in Gotham are expanding their cryptocurrency-focused offerings by rolling out an actively managed fund that invests in ether futures.

Gregory F. "Greg" Krenzer VanEck Head of Active Trading, Co-Chief Operating Officer of Active Business

Yesterday, Kyle DaCruz, director of digital asset product at VanEck [profile], and Ed Lopez, head of product management, unveiled the launch of the VanEck Ethereum Strategy ETF (EFUT on the Cboe BZC Exchange, Inc.). The new fund is a series of the VanEck ETF Trust.

Like the VanEck Bitcoin Strategy ETF (XBTF, which launched in 2021 and now has $46 million in AUM), EFUT is structured as a C-Corp. According to the VanEck team, that structure makes EFUT unique compared to other ether-focused ETFs and may offer greater tax efficiency to long-term investors.

EFUT's inception date was yesterday, and by the end of yesterday it had $840,000 in AUM. The new fund comes with an expense ratio of 66 basis points, which includes a seven-bps expense reimbursement promised through May 1, 2025. (EFUT's expense ratio is 29bps lower than those of a trio of ether-futures-related ETFs launched yesterday by another fund firm.)

VanEck Absolute Return Advisers Corporation will serve as investment advisor to EFUT, while VanEck Associates Corporation will serve as administrator and Van Eck Securities Corporation will serve as distributor. Greg Krenzer, head of active trading and co-chief operating officer of active business at VanEck, will PM the new ETF.

The VanEck team also promised via a tweet on X, donate 10 percent of EFUT's profits over the next decade. Those donations have specifically been promised to Protocol Guild, a non-profit group of developers that help with the construction and upkeep of Ethereum's core protocol.

DaCruz calls ethereum "the layer 1 building block of the decentralized applications ecosystem, driving innovations in digital currencies, global payments, smart contracts and much more."

"While investors still do not have the means to gain exposure to digital assets here in the U.S. via a spot ETF product, we're very pleased to be launching EFUT as a means to access the robust futures market that has developed around ETH itself," DaCruz states.

Lopez puts the launch of EFUT in the context of VanEck's "long history of investing across global markets and through different market cycles." He adds that the new ETF will provide "a key building block for a diversified digital assets portfolio."

EFUT's other service providers will include: Dechert LLP as counsel; PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as independent accounting firm; and State Street Bank and Trust Company as custodian, fund accountant, securities lending agent, and transfer agent. 

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