Janus Henderson launches tokenized Nasdaq-100 fund JQQQ on Stellar
Janus Henderson and Centrifuge launched JQQQ, an onchain fund tracking the Nasdaq-100 under a Nasdaq licence, issued only on Stellar for non-US investors.
ETFS & INSTITUTIONSRWA & TOKENIZATIONNEWS
Daniel Hartley
10/29/20261 min read
Janus Henderson has launched JQQQ, a fund issued directly on a public blockchain that tracks the Nasdaq-100 index, in partnership with tokenization firm Centrifuge, CoinDesk reported on Oct. 27. Nasdaq licenses the index, and the fund is available only on the Stellar network.
The fund is not open to US persons and can be sold only to eligible investors in jurisdictions where it may lawfully be marketed, according to Unchained. It sits within Anemoy Capital SPC Limited, a segregated portfolio company registered in the British Virgin Islands, with Anemoy Asset Management as investment manager and Janus Henderson Investors US LLC as sub-investment manager. Fees and minimum investment were not disclosed.
Unlike many third-party stock tokens, which may be backed by shares held at a custodian or structured as separate instruments that carry no shareholder rights, JQQQ is an issuer-sponsored fund, CoinDesk noted. Holders could eventually use it as collateral or move it between onchain applications, subject to regulation and platform support; Janus Henderson said it does not offer or endorse such uses.
A growing onchain fund lineup
London-based Janus Henderson oversees roughly $500 billion. Its onchain platform holds more than $1 billion in institutional strategies across US Treasuries, structured credit and equities, head of innovation Nick Cherney said. The firm previously worked with Centrifuge on an S&P 500 fund that CoinDesk described as the first tokenized index fund licensed by S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Sean Wasserman, head of index product management at Nasdaq, said demand for exposure to established, transparent benchmarks keeps rising. Stellar Development Foundation chief executive Denelle Dixon said the network was built for regulated finance; the partners say tokenized real-world assets on Stellar have passed $4 billion this year.
The launch adds a licensed index product to a market where tokenized equities face growing scrutiny. A separate tokenized stock plan by OKX and ICE has drawn objections from dozens of listed companies. Uptake of JQQQ will depend on investor eligibility rules and on which platforms integrate it.
Source: CoinDesk, Unchained, Bitcoin.com News, Cointelegraph