In the U.S., the world’s largest exchange traded funds (ETFs) market, there are four ETFs offering investors exposure to blockchain technology. All four of those funds debuted earlier this year. The newest of the four is the Innovation Shares NextGen Protocol ETF (NYSEARCA:KOIN), which debuted in February.
Data suggest investors are warming up to KOIN. The fund is the first ETF “to use artificial intelligence to identify and invest in blockchain innovators and adopters,” the issuer said. The ETF debuted at the end of January.
As of April 12th, KOIN had over $12.6 million in assets under management, according to issuer data. That is not a particularly large sum in the world of ETFs, but it shows KOIN is off to a decent start. More importantly, investors have recently been taking note of the ETF. Of its $12.6 million in assets under management, $7.05 million has flowed into KOIN since the start of April.
KOIN’s Issuer Defines Blockchain
“Blockchain is a new digital protocol for authentication and authorization that allows parties to bypass a centralized administrator,” according to Innovation Shares, KOIN’s issuer. “To give this basket a more defined framework, stocks are placed in one of four custom stakeholder categories in terms of how they relate to the theme: Cryptocurrency as Payment, Mining Enablers, Solutions Providers and Adopters.”
KOIN holds 42 stocks, including well-known companies such as Visa, Inc. (NYSE:V), Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL), NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA), and American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP). Semiconductor maker NVIDIA is one of the largest producers of the graphics cards essential in the mining of digital currencies.
KOIN “seeks to give investors access to companies that may benefit from a technology that has the potential to revolutionize the way global trade is conducted, data is secured, supply chains are managed, financial instruments are cleared and contracts are recorded,” according to the issuer.
Components in KOIN must have minimum market values of $100 million. The ETF charges 0.65% per year, the equivalent of $65 on a $10,000 investment.
