Tokenized equities framework xStocks has teamed with alternative investment platform Fundrise to bring onchain the newly public Fundrise Innovation Fund, expanding late-stage private market companies exposure.
The single tokenized asset VCXx is expected to go live on the xStocks platform in the coming days, according to a Friday announcement.
The move to bring Fundrise onchain comes just days after the closed-end fund began trading on the New York Stock Exchange with its portfolio that includes private shares of tech companies including Anthropic, Databricks and SpaceX. Early days trading saw the stock surge from its March 19 $31 debut price to as high as $575 per share.
However, a critical report by short seller Citron Research on Thursday which said Fundrise Advisors LLC faced SEC charges in 2023 over paid solicitation activities. Citron called on regulators to examine whether the firm is currently compensating influencers to promote VCX. The shares ended the week at $173, down almost 34% on Friday, before shedding another 5.9% in after-hours activity.
Fundrise Innovation Fund co-founder and CEO Ben Miller told CNBC on Friday that critics were mounting an unfounded smear campaign and defended the fund’s strategy and its effort to expand access to private tech companies.
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Tokenized stocks top $1B in total value onchain
Tokenized stocks pushed past $1 billion in total value onchain earlier this month as investor interest grows in the fast-growing real-world asset (RWA) sector.
Data from RWA.xyz shows the value of tokenized equities climbing past the $1 billion mark, as platforms offering blockchain-based exposure to traditional stocks attract more investor trading and liquidity.
To be sure, much of that activity is concentrated among a small number of operators. RWA.xyz data shows that Ondo holds about 58% of the market, while tokenized stock products issued under the xStocks platform account for roughly 24%, forming an early duopoly in the sector.
Foresight Ventures in a March 10 report posited that the market is consolidating around these early leaders, citing regulatory barriers, liquidity advantages and differing tokenization models as key factors shaping competition in the sector.
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