GDX at 20: Gold and the Pursuit of Independence

Twenty years ago, the launch of our Gold Miners ETF (GDX) marked the start of VanEck’s ETF business. Two decades later, GDX remains a cornerstone of our investment solution offering, and its anniversary falls in a year that invites a much longer look back: 2026 also marks America’s 250th birthday.

Our CEO Jan van Eck has a deep appreciation for history, and we can’t help but notice how gold runs through the entire American story.

Gold Through 250 Years of American History

From the beginning, gold was woven into the American experiment. The Coinage Act of 1792 made gold and silver the bedrock of the new nation’s monetary system, a declaration in economic terms that the US would stand behind its currency with something real. For more than a century, that anchor held. The Gold Standard Act of 1900 formalized the arrangement, pegging the dollar to gold at $20.67/oz.

Gold offered a statement of credibility, a promise that the currency of a self-governing nation couldn’t be printed or legislated out of value. That principle held until the pressures of the 20th century forced a rethinking.

A New Era for Gold (and VanEck)

In 1968, our founder John C. van Eck saw what was coming. With gold still fixed at $35/oz under the Bretton Woods system, he launched the first U.S. open-ended gold equity mutual fund, a contrarian move grounded in the conviction that gold’s role in the financial system was about to change dramatically. Three years later, President Nixon proved him right, severing the dollar’s convertibility to gold on August 15, 1971, and ushering in the era of fiat currency.

Rather than diminishing gold’s relevance, this break transformed it. Freed from a fixed price, gold became a market-driven store of value and a hedge against the very monetary expansion that the end of the gold standard made possible.

That moment also set a pattern that continues to define VanEck: identifying long-term shifts early and building investment solutions that help investors navigate them.

From Mutual Fund to ETF: The Birth of GDX

As gold continued to gain prominence as a strategic asset allocation following the end of Bretton Woods, VanEck’s mutual fund became one of the industry’s standout performers of the 1970s. Furthermore, it underscored the idea that gold equities offer investors something unique: exposure to a timeless asset through the dynamic nature of the companies that mine it.

That philosophy is what led to GDX. By the mid-2000s, the ETF revolution was reshaping how investors built portfolios, and we believed gold equity investors deserved a vehicle that matched the speed, transparency and accessibility of the modern market. GDX launched in May 2006, giving investors their first opportunity to access a diversified basket of gold mining companies through a single, exchange-traded ticker.

It also marked the start of VanEck’s broader ETF business. Everything we’ve built since, across digital assets, emerging markets, fixed income, and beyond, traces back to that first gold miners fund. GDX wasn’t just a product launch. It illustrated how we take deep thematic expertise, built over decades, and put it to work for investors by delivering it in a format that meets their evolving needs.

Why GDX Still Matters at 20

Twenty years on, we believe the case for GDX is arguably stronger than when it launched. Central banks around the globe are diversifying reserves away from any single currency. Investors are seeking protection against persistent inflation, elevated government debt, and a geopolitical landscape that grows more fractured with every new headline.

Gold has historically addressed these concerns by enhancing portfolio diversification, serving as an inflation hedge and providing appreciation potential with demonstrated low correlation to traditional asset classes. Gold carries no counterparty risk, no credit risk, and no allegiance to any single government. And miners like the companies GDX holds offer something physical gold alone cannot, including operating leverage to the gold price, the potential for dividends and the upside that comes from discovering and developing new deposits.

Two hundred and fifty years into the American story, and twenty years into GDX’s, gold remains a constant. For investors looking to diversify portfolios with an asset tied to scarcity, resilience and long-term relevance, GDX remains a modern vehicle for a very old idea, and a reflection of VanEck’s commitment to staying ahead in a world that never stands still.