VanEck plans to launch a private digital assets fund in June targeting tokenized Web3 projects built on the Avalanche blockchain network, the asset manager said in a statement shared with Cointelegraph.

The VanEck PurposeBuilt Fund, available only to accredited investors, aims to invest in liquid tokens and venture-backed projects across Web3 sectors, including gaming, financial services, payments, and artificial intelligence. 

Idle capital will be deployed into Avalanche (AVAX) real-world asset (RWA) products, including tokenized money market funds, VanEck said.

The fund will be managed by the team behind VanEck’s Digital Assets Alpha Fund (DAAF), which oversees more than $100 million in net assets as of May 21. 

“The next wave of value in crypto will come from real businesses, not more infrastructure,” Pranav Kanade, portfolio manager for DAAF, said in a statement.

RWAs are among crypto’s fastest-growing segments. Source: RWA.xyz

Related: Tokenized stocks could top $1T in market cap — Execs

Thematic crypto funds

VanEck’s PurposeBuilt Fund is the latest in a series of funds from the asset manager and rivals designed to offer exposure to projects and companies in fast-growing segments of Web3. 

On May 14, VanEck launched a new actively managed exchange-traded fund (ETF) to invest in stocks and financial instruments providing exposure to the digital economy.

In April, VanEck launched another ETF investing in a passive index of companies operating in the crypto space. 

Asset managers such as VanEck are requesting the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) permission to list upward of 70 crypto ETFs. 

The wave of ETF filings is in response to US President Donald Trump softening the agency’s regulatory stance toward crypto after Trump took office in January.

Avalanche TVL as of May 21. Source: DefiLlama

Avalanche RWA ecosystem

Avalanche has emerged as a hub for real-world assets (RWAs) and other institutional-oriented crypto projects.

Its interrelated networks, called subnets, allow institutions to run Ethereum-style smart contracts in a controlled environment. On May 16, Solv Protocol launched a yield-bearing Bitcoin token on the Avalanche blockchain, targeting institutional investors

Avalanche has around $1.5 billion in total value locked (TVL) as of May 21, according to data from DefiLlama. 

“We’re seeing a shift away from speculative hype toward real utility and sustainable token economies,” John Nahas, chief business officer at Ava Labs, said in a statement.

Magazine: Danger signs for Bitcoin as retail abandons it to institutions — Sky Wee

Solana Mobile, a subsidiary of blockchain technology company Solana Labs, has revealed the next steps for its soon-to-be-shipped Seeker device and the overall ecosystem. The steps include a new, trustless architecture, a native token, and the Seeker ship date.

According to the announcement, Solana Mobile will ship the device starting Aug. 4. Seeker is the company’s second-generation device, after the Saga Web3 phone that launched in April 2023.

The company unveiled the Seeker phone in September 2024, saying it wouldn’t just be a “memecoin phone.” So far, it has pre-sold 150,000 units.

The Solana Seeker has gone through two sale phases: The Founder window, where the price for each device was $450, and the Early Adopter window, where the price per device was $500.

Assuming the lower price window, Solana Mobile could generate at least $67.5 million in gross revenue from device sales. For comparison, the iPhone generated $199.3 billion in revenue for Apple in 2024.

The new architecture that will govern future Solana Mobile devices is called TEEPIN, which stands for “Trusted Execution Environment Platform Infrastructure Network.” It is a three-layer architecture — hardware, platform, and network layers — that will allow users, developers, and device makers to participate in a trustless environment.

Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder and CEO of Solana Labs, called TEEPIN “the next evolution in mobile” and a framework where trust is “verified by cryptography.”

In addition, Solana Mobile is planning to launch “SKR,” the native asset of the Solana Mobile ecosystem. “It transforms the traditional mobile business model by giving stakeholders actual ownership in the platform,” said Emmett Hollyer, general manager at Solana Mobile.

Related: Solana lacks ‘convincing signs’ of besting Ethereum: Sygnum

Solana Saga

Solana Mobile’s first released device, Saga, initially elicited mixed reactions from the Web3 community — some hailed it as Web3’s “iPhone moment,” while others pointed to the network’s outages as a drawback.

The Saga phone didn’t take off until late 2023, when a surge in the value of memecoins stored on the devices turned them into unexpected profit machines. Some units were listed on eBay for thousands of dollars, driven by growing demand. By December 2023, the Saga had completely sold out.

Magazine: Memecoins are ded — But Solana ‘100x better’ despite revenue plunge

Kristin Johnson of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced that she plans to depart the agency before 2026.

In a May 21 notice, Johnson said she planned to step down from the CFTC “later this year,” having completed her term, which ended in April. The commissioner filling a Democratic seat at the financial regulator had served since March 2022 after being nominated by former President Joe Biden.

In her farewell message, Johnson cited her work as a sponsor of the Market Risk Advisory Committee, which dealt with “nascent issues that arise with the introduction of decentralized financial products such as digital assets or cryptocurrency and other emerging markets.” 

CFTC Commissioner Kristin Johnson. Source: CFTCJohnson on X

Her departure could come before US President Donald Trump nominates a replacement and has them confirmed by a Senate majority. Commissioners Summer Mersinger and Christy Goldsmith Romero previously said they would step down on May 30 and May 31, respectively, and acting CFTC Chair Caroline Pham said she planned to move “to the private sector” if Brian Quintenz were to be the next Senate-confirmed head of the agency.

One position on the five-seat CFTC panel has been empty since the departure of former chair Rostin Behnam in February. Under CFTC guidelines, commissioners can continue to serve beyond the end of their terms until a “successor is appointed and has qualified,” provided it is before the next session of Congress.

Related: KuCoin’s settlement with CFTC in flux after Trump policy shift

CFTC shakeup amid proposals for crypto market structure

Johnson’s notice suggested that the entire leadership of one of the most significant financial regulators in the US could be replaced by Trump’s picks as early as 2026. The president nominated Quintenz to serve as CFTC chair in February, but the Senate had not moved for a vote to confirm him in more than three months. 

Along with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the CFTC has handled specific regulatory and enforcement issues related to digital assets. However, the lack of “clear rules of the road,” according to some lawmakers and industry leaders, has led to calls for a law establishing a digital asset market regulatory structure, clarifying the roles each agency would have to play.

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered