Tokenization Unlocks Elite Private Tech for Global Investors

ST. HELIER, Jersey – March 27, 2026 – In a landmark move bridging traditional venture capital with decentralized finance, tokenized equities platform xStocks today announced a partnership with Fundrise to bring its highly sought-after Innovation Fund (NYSE: VCX) onchain. The collaboration will create a new tokenized asset, VCXx, offering eligible global investors direct exposure to a portfolio of premier late-stage technology companies, including SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Databricks.

The initiative represents a significant expansion for tokenized assets, moving beyond publicly traded stocks and into the historically walled-off garden of private equity. By representing shares of the publicly listed VCX fund as a digital token, the partnership aims to dismantle long-standing barriers to entry, providing unprecedented access and liquidity for a new class of investors operating outside the United States.

"VCX is more than a public listing. By tokenizing this public venture fund, we are opening access for eligible investors around the world to gain exposure not only to a public vehicle, but to a portfolio with private exposure to some of the top companies in the world,” said Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward, the parent company of xStocks.

Democratizing Access to Silicon Valley's Titans

Traditionally, investing in high-growth, pre-IPO companies like those in the VCX portfolio has been the exclusive domain of institutional funds and high-net-worth individuals. The process often involves substantial capital commitments, extensive paperwork, and long-term lock-up periods, effectively barring the average investor.

Fundrise, the largest direct-to-consumer alternative investment platform in the U.S., was founded to challenge this model. Its Innovation Fund, which debuted on the NYSE in March 2026 to strong investor demand, was designed as a "bridge between the public and private markets." The fund itself has a remarkably low investment minimum of just $10 for direct investors, a stark contrast to the millions often required for private placements. Since its inception in July 2022, the fund has demonstrated impressive performance, delivering an annualized return of approximately 15% net of fees and boasting a +43.5% return in 2025 alone, driven by surging valuations in the artificial intelligence sector.

The tokenization of this vehicle via the VCXx asset amplifies this mission of democratization on a global scale. By leveraging blockchain technology, the new token enables fractional ownership and seamless transfers, allowing eligible investors to gain exposure to this curated portfolio with the same ease as any other digital asset.

“We built VCX to act as a bridge between the public and private markets,” said Ben Miller, CEO of Fundrise. “We believe all individual investors should be able to own a piece of the best private technology companies in the world. We have long admired Kraken’s approach to breaking down barriers to the best investments and are excited to see them continue to grow their innovative xStocks platform.”

A New Frontier for Onchain Capital Markets

This partnership is more than just the launch of a new product; it signals a deeper convergence between traditional finance (TradFi) and the burgeoning world of decentralized finance (DeFi). Payward, the financial infrastructure powerhouse behind both the Kraken crypto exchange and the xStocks framework, is positioning itself at the forefront of this evolution. The company’s strategy involves creating a unified architecture where diverse asset classes can coexist and interact on a single global foundation.

The VCXx token is designed to be fully integrated into the DeFi ecosystem. Built primarily on the high-speed Solana blockchain, with interoperability across other networks like Ethereum, the token can be used for more than just passive holding. Its programmability unlocks advanced financial strategies that are impossible with traditional fund shares. For instance, investors will be able to use their VCXx holdings as collateral to take out loans on decentralized lending platforms, provide liquidity to onchain trading pools, or incorporate the asset into automated investment strategies executed by smart contracts.

This initiative is part of a broader industry trend. Payward recently announced a partnership with Nasdaq to explore next-generation infrastructure connecting legacy equity markets with onchain systems. This move, along with similar explorations by the NYSE and asset management giants like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton, underscores a growing institutional consensus: the future of finance is onchain. The market for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) is projected to soar, with some analysts predicting the market could reach nearly $4 trillion in private markets alone by 2030.

Navigating a Fragmented Global Regulatory Maze

While the technological promise is immense, the path to fully globalized onchain markets is paved with regulatory complexities. A critical component of the xStocks strategy is its careful navigation of this landscape. The press release and company documentation make it unequivocally clear that xStocks, including the new VCXx, are not registered under U.S. securities laws and are therefore not available to U.S. persons or within the United States.

This self-imposed restriction allows the platform to avoid the stringent and often ambiguous regulatory environment for digital assets overseen by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Instead, xStocks operates under a framework centered on European compliance. Its issuer is a Jersey-based entity, while its operating company is regulated under Switzerland’s progressive Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Act. This structure is designed to provide regulatory clarity in the jurisdictions it serves, adhering to frameworks like the EU's MiFID II directive.

This approach highlights a major challenge in the digital asset space: regulatory fragmentation. While creating opportunities for investors in over 140 countries, it also creates a stark divide, leaving the massive U.S. retail market on the sidelines for this particular innovation. For now, the strategy is to build a robust ecosystem in compliant international markets while the global regulatory picture continues to evolve.

The Technology and Security of Onchain Private Equity

The integrity of any tokenized asset hinges on the technology and security measures that underpin it. Each VCXx token will be fully collateralized, representing a 1:1 claim on an underlying share of the VCX fund. These underlying shares are held in custody by licensed, regulated third-party institutions, such as Swiss banks, ensuring that the digital asset has a verifiable real-world backing.

xStocks leverages the technical advantages of blockchains like Solana, which offers high transaction speeds and low costs, making onchain trading and transfers efficient. The platform is also designed for multi-chain interoperability, allowing assets to move across different blockchain ecosystems to access wider pools of liquidity and DeFi applications.

However, as the onchain asset ecosystem grows, so do the security considerations. The smart contracts that govern the issuance, transfer, and DeFi integration of these tokens are a potential point of vulnerability. Industry analyses have previously pointed to a need for greater transparency regarding independent security assessments for tokenization platforms. While operating within a regulated framework provides a strong foundation, the publication of third-party smart contract audits is becoming a standard expectation for building trust among crypto-native users and institutional partners alike. As VCXx goes live in the coming days, the security of its integration into the wider DeFi landscape will be a key factor for its long-term success and adoption.