GENZ ETF: Question & Answer

With 145 million digital-native consumers now the dominant U.S. spending cohort, the platforms serving how they earn, spend, and play represent a distinct and growing opportunity. The VanEck Digital Native Economy ETF (GENZ) captures that opportunity across three equal segments, digital finance, gig platforms, and online sports betting, adding a differentiated consumer layer to VanEck's thematic suite.

• What is the digital native economy?
• Why is the digital native economy a compelling investment theme right now?
• How does the digital native economy differ from the broader technology sector?
• What is the VanEck Digital Native Economy ETF (GENZ)?
• What are the three segments of the index?
• How does GENZ express its investment thesis through the portfolio?
• Why reposition BJK rather than simply launch a new fund?
• How does GENZ fit alongside other VanEck thematic ETFs?

What is the digital native economy?

The digital native economy refers to the ecosystem of companies that primarily serve consumers who have grown up entirely online. These are individuals, mostly Gen Z and younger millennials, for whom digital-first is not a preference but a default. They have never banked at a branch, never hailed a cab from the street, and never placed a bet in person. Their entire financial and economic life runs through platforms, apps, and online communities that did not exist 15 years ago.

For investors, this represents a distinct and growing segment of the economy, one organized around how the next generation actually earns, spends, and plays.

Why is the digital native economy a compelling investment theme right now?

The behavioral shift is structural, not cyclical. Gen Z and younger millennials are not just adapting to digital financial services, gig work, and online entertainment. They were born into them. These are not preferences that evolve over time, but the default habits of a generation that has never known anything different.

What makes this a compelling investment opportunity is the scale. With 145 million Gen Z and younger millennial consumers now representing the dominant spending cohort in the U.S., the platforms and companies serving them are no longer niche. They are increasingly central to how a significant portion of the economy earns, spends, and plays and that creates durable, structural demand for the companies in the MarketVector Digital Native Economy Index (MVGENZTR).

How does the digital native economy differ from the broader technology sector?

Most technology ETFs capture hardware manufacturers, cloud providers, and software platforms with broad enterprise and consumer exposure. GENZ focuses specifically on the consumer-facing, behavior-driven layer of the digital economy, meaning the companies where this generation actually spends their money. That includes fintech and neobanks, gig and creator platforms, and online sports betting operators. Some of these companies sit inside technology indices, but many do not. The common thread is the consumer, not the technology category.

What is the VanEck Digital Native Economy ETF (GENZ)?

GENZ is a relaunch of BJK, which was launched in 2008 as a gaming and leisure ETF. The fund is repositioning as a passively managed ETF that seeks to track the MarketVector Digital Native Economy Index (MVGENZTR). The fund provides targeted exposure to companies at the center of how the next generation earns, spends, and plays, organized across three index segments: Millennial Finance, Gig Economy and Online Forums, and Digital Sports Betting and Gambling. GENZ lists on Nasdaq and carries a unitary fee of 0.50%.

What are the three segments of the index?

1. Millennial Finance: Neobanks, digital payment platforms, buy-now-pay-later providers, and app-first brokerage and investing platforms. Finance for a generation that discovered money through their phone.
2. Gig Economy and Online Forums: On-demand labor platforms, freelance marketplaces, and creator economy and community commerce companies. Work and community for a generation that earns flexibly and builds identity online.

Digital Sports Betting and Video Game Developers: Online sports betting operators, iGaming platforms, video game developers, and sports data and analytics companies. Entertainment for a generation that bets on their phone and streams their gameplay.

How does GENZ express its investment thesis through the portfolio?

GENZ is built around a single conviction: the companies that win with the next generation of consumers will look fundamentally different from those that won with the last one. The portfolio reflects that, holding companies across digital finance, platform-based work, and online entertainment that derive the majority of their revenues from serving digital-native consumers.

Rather than concentrating in any one sector, the index spreads exposure equally across its three tiers, ensuring the thesis is expressed across all three pillars of digital-native economic life.

Why reposition BJK rather than simply launch a new fund?

BJK was launched in 2008 as a gaming and leisure ETF. Repositioning the existing fund allows us to bring a restructured investment thesis to an established fund vehicle while maintaining the efficiency and simplicity of a single ETF. The result is a cleaner, more forward-looking exposure for advisors who were already using BJK or who are looking for this type of thematic access.

How does GENZ fit alongside other VanEck thematic ETFs?

GENZ adds the consumer layer to VanEck's thematic suite. SMH captures the semiconductor supply chain powering every digital device. ESPO covers competitive gaming and esports. DAPP provides exposure to digital asset companies. IBOT covers robotics and AI. GENZ now completes the picture at the consumer level, covering the platforms and services where all of that infrastructure meets real economic behavior. For advisors building thematic allocations, GENZ offers a differentiated and complementary exposure with minimal overlap to existing holdings.

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