How a soon-to-launch crypto equity ETF looks to be different

This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.As you may recall, financial advisers in a January Bitwise/VettaFi survey said equity ETFs were their top choice for gaining crypto exposure in 2025. And, more recently, 10T Holdings founder Dan Tapiero said on stage at the Digital Asset Summit that people will always like investing in companies with cash flows, a balance sheet, a board of directors, etc.NewsletterSubscribe to Forward Guidance NewsletterVanEck’s Onchain Economy ETF (NODE) — set to launch next month — looks to be different from the Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF (BLOK), for example — or even its own Digital Transformation ETF (DAPP).DAPP holds 20 names. Strategy is the top holding, representing nearly 11% of the portfolio. If you add bitcoin miners to the MSTR position, that’s where a majority of the fund’s assets are allocated.While MSTR has driven gains, most miners have not offered great “across-the-cycle returns,” noted VanEck digital assets research head Matthew Sigel. He’s set to manage NODE.With a target launch date of May 14, NODE plans to instead look for opportunities across a broader universe of more than 130 companies. Here’s how it labels them in the prospectus: The fact NODE will focus less on the volatile mining space (filled with bankruptcies and the like) means that “maybe long-term allocators would be more willing to hold this one over a multi-year horizon,” Sigel told me. He didn’t want to name possible top holdings. But Sigel mentioned the opportunity in “downstream and midstream energy companies” tied to BTC mining that offer a different volatility/beta to bitcoin than the pure-play miners.   He added: “There are a number of Web2 companies globally that have been more forward-thinking about adopting stablecoins and digital assets more broadly. And we’re focused not only on the revenue opportunity directly, but also on how crypto rails can improve the cost structure of many traditional companies.”There’s also the fact that more crypto companies (and those wading into the space) are expected to go public (eToro, Circle, etc.).Sigel said: “We count more than $10 billion of IPOs in the pipeline that should make for interesting hunting ground over the next year for active equity investors.”