VanEck Launches Avalanche-Based Digital Assets Fund for Real-World Projects

VanEck, a prominent asset management firm, has unveiled a new private digital assets fund tailored for Avalanche-based businesses. The VanEck Purposebuilt Fund is set to launch on 10 June, focusing on utilizing Avalanche-native real-world asset (RWA) products, including tokenized money market funds, to deploy capital. This fund aims to support liquid tokens, venture-backed projects, and scalable businesses that are building on the Avalanche network, with a particular emphasis on industries such as finance, payments, gaming, and AI. The projects will receive investment either close to or after a Token Generation Event, aligning with VanEck’s conviction in the ‘GDP onchain’ thesis. This thesis posits that blockchain technology will eventually become integral to global economic and financial systems, with projects that align with this vision being the most durable.

Pranav Kanade, Portfolio Manager of VanEck Digital Asset Alpha Fund (DAAF), emphasizes that real businesses, rather than additional infrastructure, will drive the next wave of value for the crypto sector. VanEck has observed a growing concentration of serious builders using the Avalanche network for real-world applications, generating economic activity onchain. These teams are involved in various sectors, including payments, FinTech, DeFi, RWAs, AI, and gaming, and are already providing enterprise-grade products adopted by Web2 platforms and traditional institutions.

The VanEck Purposebuilt Fund seeks capital appreciation through investments in digital assets with market capitalizations above $100 million. It may invest in RWAs, digital asset projects, and Avalanche ecosystem-related companies. The fund may also employ staking, yield-farming, and investments across centralized and decentralized platforms. The team behind the DAAF will manage the new VanEck Purposebuilt Fund, which has over $100 million in assets under management and is considered one of the strongest-performing directional liquid token funds in the market. The new fund aims to address the issue of legitimate blockchain-powered businesses struggling to stand out in an environment dominated by short-term speculation, which distorts incentives, undermines token credibility, and slows real adoption.

John Nahas, Chief Business Officer at Ava Labs, described the launch of Purposebuilt as a pivotal moment for the Avalanche ecosystem. He reinforced Avalanche as “the home for serious founders who are scaling real businesses and driving meaningful onchain adoption.” Nahas noted a shift away from speculative hype toward real utility and sustainable token economies. The goal of Purposebuilt is to bring the kind of long-term capital and strategic conviction that builders need to lead this shift. VanEck managed $116.6 billion in assets as of 30 April 2025, including mutual funds, ETFs, and institutional accounts. In March and April this year, it filed for Avalanche and BNB ETFs, respectively. In May, VanEck partnered with Securitize to launch a US treasuries-backed tokenized fund on Avalanche, Ethereum, and Solana.