NODE ETF: Question & Answer
May 14, 2025
Read Time 4 MIN
NODE is built on a simple thesis: the onchain economy is real, accelerating, and increasingly investable. What began as a fringe financial experiment has become a catalyst for transformation across energy, computing, finance, and consumer tech.
As digital assets go mainstream — from ETF approvals to enterprise adoption and sovereign integration — NODE aims to offer investors a smart, risk-aware way to participate in this long-term shift.
- What is the VanEck Onchain Economy ETF (NODE)?
- What is the “onchain economy”?
- What types of companies does NODE invest in?
- What is NODE’s investment approach?
- How does the Bitcoin cycle influence NODE’s positioning?
- Why active management in this space?
- Is NODE just about crypto or something broader?
- How concentrated is NODE’s portfolio?
- How can investors buy VanEck ETFs?
What is the VanEck Onchain Economy ETF (NODE)?
The VanEck Onchain Economy ETF (NODE) is an actively managed equity ETF that seeks to capture the transformative growth of blockchain and digital assets. NODE invests in companies across a broad set of categories — from crypto infrastructure to adjacent enablers like semiconductors and data centers — all of which contribute to or benefit from the onchain economy.
NODE | VanEck Onchain Economy ETF
What is the “onchain economy”?
The onchain economy refers to the expanding network of businesses, technologies, and infrastructure tied to public blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum. It includes crypto-native firms like miners and exchanges and companies in traditional finance, energy, semiconductors, and software actively integrating blockchain into their operations.
These businesses are helping build a new era of value transfer, decentralized computing, and financial infrastructure — and NODE aims to provide investors with diversified, equity-based access to that shift.
What types of companies does NODE invest in?
NODE’s portfolio spans 10 categories within the onchain economy:
- Crypto ETPs
- Mining
- Exchanges
- Asset Managers
- Corporate Bitcoin Holders (companies with large bitcoin (BTC) holdings)
- Data Centers
- Energy Infrastructure
- Traditional finance (TradFi) Enablers
- Semiconductors/Hardware
- Consumer/Gaming
Each category represents a different stage of blockchain adoption or enablement. The Fund dynamically adjusts exposure based on category beta, market conditions, and where we believe we are in the Bitcoin cycle (based on historical data).
What is NODE’s investment approach?
NODE is an actively managed ETF designed to adapt to one of the fastest-evolving areas of the global economy. Rather than track an index, NODE’s portfolio management team:
- Chooses 30–60 high-conviction names from a universe of ~100 global stocks
- Monitors fundamental, macro, and crypto-native signals
- Allocates dynamically across categories based on opportunity and risk
NODE avoids direct cryptocurrency exposure. Instead, it uses equities and regulated instruments (such as crypto ETPs and futures) to gain targeted digital asset exposure via a Cayman subsidiary structure.
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How does the Bitcoin cycle influence NODE’s positioning?
The historical patterns of the Bitcoin halving cycle has tended to drive changes in crypto sentiment and price behavior. The Fund optimizes exposure by overweighting higher-beta categories during periods of positive sentiment and focusing on more defensive categories when volatility rises or risk appetite declines.
Beta (BTC Beta): A measure of how an asset moves in relation to Bitcoin’s price fluctuations. Higher beta (>1.0) means the asset moves more than BTC, while lower beta (<1.0) means it moves less.
Why active management in this space?
The onchain economy moves fast — driven by innovation, policy shifts, and crypto market volatility. Passive or index-based strategies may lag behind major developments or overexpose investors to stale themes.
Active management gives NODE the flexibility to:
- Respond to emerging narratives or market disruptions
- Adjust allocations as categories evolve or correlations change
- Manage risk proactively during periods of volatility or drawdowns
This agility is particularly important in a space with asymmetric upside and cyclical behavior.
Is NODE just about crypto or something broader?
NODE is crypto-forward, but not crypto-only. While many of the Fund’s holdings have exposure to bitcoin or digital assets, NODE also includes companies enabling the broader digital transformation — from AI-powered data centers and power-hungry GPU manufacturers to payment platforms exporting blockchain-based services to emerging markets.
The goal is to capture value across the entire digital asset stack: infrastructure, applications, and adjacencies.
How concentrated is NODE’s portfolio?
NODE targets 30–60 securities selected from a broader universe of ~100 names. This allows:
- Diversification across categories, regions, and risk profiles
- Flexibility to express high-conviction views
- Tactical rotation when opportunities or risks emerge
The Fund’s portfolio construction is designed to balance upside participation with risk awareness — particularly during volatile crypto phases.
What role could NODE play in a portfolio?
NODE may fit within the following allocation sleeves:
- Thematic Growth: For investors seeking exposure to disruptive trends
- Alternative Equity: As a differentiated equity sleeve with potential crypto correlation
- Core-Satellite: As a satellite position complementing core index exposure
Because it spans multiple categories with distinct risk/return profiles, NODE can act as a flexible tool for expressing a long-term view of blockchain’s impact on the global economy.
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Important Disclosures
The Fund may invest nearly all of its net assets in either Digital Transformation Companies and/or Digital Asset Instruments. The Fund does not invest in digital assets or commodities directly.
An investment in the Fund involves a substantial degree of risk and is not suitable for all investors. Investors in the Fund should be willing to accept a high degree of volatility in the price of the Fund’s Shares and the possibility of significant losses. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit with a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. Therefore, you should consider carefully various risks before investing in the Fund, each of which could significantly and adversely affect the value of an investment in the Fund.
An investment in the Fund may be subject to risks which include, among others, risks related to investing in digital transformation companies, digital asset instruments, commodities and commodity-linked instruments, subsidiary investment, commodity regulatory (with respect to investments in the subsidiary), tax (with respect to investments in the subsidiary), gap, liquidity, derivatives, new fund, regulatory, non-diversified, small- and medium-capitalization companies, foreign securities, emerging market issuers, market, operational, active management, authorized participant concentration, no guarantee of active trading market, trading issues, fund shares trading, premium/discount risk and liquidity of fund shares, industry concentration, cash transactions, underlying investment vehicle, and affiliated investment vehicle risks, all of which may adversely affect the fund. Emerging market issuers and foreign securities may be subject to securities markets, political and economic, investment and repatriation restrictions, different rules and regulations, less publicly available financial information, foreign currency and exchange rates, operational and settlement, and corporate and securities laws risks. Small- and medium-capitalization companies may be subject to elevated risks.
Digital asset instruments may be subject to risks associated with investing in digital asset exchange-traded products (“ETPs”), which include the historical extreme volatility of the digital asset and cryptocurrency market, as well as less regulation and thus fewer investor protections, as these ETPs are not investment companies registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (“1940 Act”) or commodity pools for the purposes of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”).
The technology relating to digital assets, including blockchain, is new and developing and the risks associated with digital assets may not fully emerge until the technology is widely used. Digital asset technologies are used by companies to optimize their business practices, whether by using the technology within their business or operating business lines involved in the operation of the technology. The cryptographic keys necessary to transact a digital asset may be subject to theft, loss, or destruction, which could adversely affect a company’s business or operations if it were dependent on the digital asset. There may be risks posed by the lack of regulation for digital assets and any future regulatory developments could affect the viability and expansion of the use of digital assets.
Commodities and commodity-linked instruments may be subject to further risks, including tax and futures contracts risk. This risk may be adversely affected by “negative roll yields” in “contango” markets. The Fund will “roll” out of one futures contract as the expiration date approaches and into another futures contract with a later expiration date. The “rolling” feature creates the potential for a significant negative effect on the Fund’s performance that is independent of the performance of the spot prices of the underlying commodity. The “spot price” of a commodity is the price of that commodity for immediate delivery, as opposed to a futures price, which represents the price for delivery on a specified date in the future. The Fund would be expected to experience negative roll yield if the futures prices tend to be greater than the spot price. A market where futures prices are generally greater than spot prices is referred to as a “contango” market. Therefore, if the futures market for a given commodity is in contango, then the value of a futures contract on that commodity would tend to decline over time (assuming the spot price remains unchanged), because the higher futures price would fall as it converges to the lower spot price by expiration. Extended period of contango may cause significant and sustained losses. Additionally, because of the frequency with which the Fund may roll futures contracts, the impact of contango on Fund performance may be greater than it would have been if the Fund rolled futures contracts less frequently.
Investing involves substantial risk and high volatility, including possible loss of principal. An investor should consider the investment objective, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus and summary prospectus, which contains this and other information, call 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com. Please read the prospectus and summary prospectus carefully before investing.
© Van Eck Securities Corporation, Distributor, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Van Eck Associates Corporation.
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Important Disclosures
The Fund may invest nearly all of its net assets in either Digital Transformation Companies and/or Digital Asset Instruments. The Fund does not invest in digital assets or commodities directly.
An investment in the Fund involves a substantial degree of risk and is not suitable for all investors. Investors in the Fund should be willing to accept a high degree of volatility in the price of the Fund’s Shares and the possibility of significant losses. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit with a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. Therefore, you should consider carefully various risks before investing in the Fund, each of which could significantly and adversely affect the value of an investment in the Fund.
An investment in the Fund may be subject to risks which include, among others, risks related to investing in digital transformation companies, digital asset instruments, commodities and commodity-linked instruments, subsidiary investment, commodity regulatory (with respect to investments in the subsidiary), tax (with respect to investments in the subsidiary), gap, liquidity, derivatives, new fund, regulatory, non-diversified, small- and medium-capitalization companies, foreign securities, emerging market issuers, market, operational, active management, authorized participant concentration, no guarantee of active trading market, trading issues, fund shares trading, premium/discount risk and liquidity of fund shares, industry concentration, cash transactions, underlying investment vehicle, and affiliated investment vehicle risks, all of which may adversely affect the fund. Emerging market issuers and foreign securities may be subject to securities markets, political and economic, investment and repatriation restrictions, different rules and regulations, less publicly available financial information, foreign currency and exchange rates, operational and settlement, and corporate and securities laws risks. Small- and medium-capitalization companies may be subject to elevated risks.
Digital asset instruments may be subject to risks associated with investing in digital asset exchange-traded products (“ETPs”), which include the historical extreme volatility of the digital asset and cryptocurrency market, as well as less regulation and thus fewer investor protections, as these ETPs are not investment companies registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (“1940 Act”) or commodity pools for the purposes of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”).
The technology relating to digital assets, including blockchain, is new and developing and the risks associated with digital assets may not fully emerge until the technology is widely used. Digital asset technologies are used by companies to optimize their business practices, whether by using the technology within their business or operating business lines involved in the operation of the technology. The cryptographic keys necessary to transact a digital asset may be subject to theft, loss, or destruction, which could adversely affect a company’s business or operations if it were dependent on the digital asset. There may be risks posed by the lack of regulation for digital assets and any future regulatory developments could affect the viability and expansion of the use of digital assets.
Commodities and commodity-linked instruments may be subject to further risks, including tax and futures contracts risk. This risk may be adversely affected by “negative roll yields” in “contango” markets. The Fund will “roll” out of one futures contract as the expiration date approaches and into another futures contract with a later expiration date. The “rolling” feature creates the potential for a significant negative effect on the Fund’s performance that is independent of the performance of the spot prices of the underlying commodity. The “spot price” of a commodity is the price of that commodity for immediate delivery, as opposed to a futures price, which represents the price for delivery on a specified date in the future. The Fund would be expected to experience negative roll yield if the futures prices tend to be greater than the spot price. A market where futures prices are generally greater than spot prices is referred to as a “contango” market. Therefore, if the futures market for a given commodity is in contango, then the value of a futures contract on that commodity would tend to decline over time (assuming the spot price remains unchanged), because the higher futures price would fall as it converges to the lower spot price by expiration. Extended period of contango may cause significant and sustained losses. Additionally, because of the frequency with which the Fund may roll futures contracts, the impact of contango on Fund performance may be greater than it would have been if the Fund rolled futures contracts less frequently.
Investing involves substantial risk and high volatility, including possible loss of principal. An investor should consider the investment objective, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus and summary prospectus, which contains this and other information, call 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com. Please read the prospectus and summary prospectus carefully before investing.
© Van Eck Securities Corporation, Distributor, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Van Eck Associates Corporation.