VanEck Ventures backs Manifest’s tokenized real estate ETF

VanEck Ventures General Partner Wyatt Lonergan and Partner Juan Lopez announced the firm’s investment in Manifest, a platform integrating American real estate into decentralized finance (DeFi).

According to its website, Manifest, which is “coming soon,” will be backed by home equity investments (HEIs) and offer a tokenized ETF, $USH (U.S. Housing).

Lopez added that Manifest is revolutionizing tokenization by using ETF-style diversification to U.S. real estate and structuring it into a smart contract available on transparent public blockchains.

Unlike traditional ETFs available on a legacy exchange, $USH utilizes blockchain technology to boost liquidity, programmability, and global accessibility, providing a groundbreaking approach to acquiring real estate exposure.

Manifest’s $USH offers a blockchain-powered alternative to traditional real estate ETFs

Manifest Founder and CEO Nathaniel Sokoll-Ward said the announcement is crucial for ETF investors because they will soon have the option to invest in diversified U.S. real estate that is not tied to real estate investment trusts (REITs) or direct ownership.

He added that instead of using a product like the Vanguard Real Estate ETF, which has assets predominantly made up of real estate rental businesses, investors will have “the option to gain capital-efficient, direct exposure to the dominant real estate asset class in the country: owner-occupied single-family residential real estate equity.”

Manifest’s $USH marks a major advancement beyond traditional real estate ETFs. According to Sokoll-Ward, $USH integrates blockchain technology to improve liquidity, capital efficiency, and tax benefits.

Unlike publicly traded REIT ETFs, which face stock market volatility, centralized management, limited trading hours, and high fees, $USH operates entirely on-chain and is backed by Home Equity Investments.

He added that this structure “eliminates intermediaries, reduces fees, increases transparency and ensures that all assets are fully collateralized by real estate equity.”

VanEck Ventures, which co-led Manifest’s $2.5 million pre-seed funding round with Lattice Fund, was launched by the fund giant last October.

The $30 million early-stage fund marked VanEck’s expansion into venture capital and was created to invest in “visionary founders operating at the intersection of fintech, digital assets and artificial intelligence.”

Tokenized real estate set for growth as blockchain reshapes the market

According to Lopez, tokenized financial products like $USH represent the next evolution in asset management, introducing 24/7 liquidity, seamless global settlement, enhanced accessibility, and direct programmability. These features have driven growth in DeFi and stablecoins in recent years, areas where traditional ETFs fall short. Developers can now access these assets and build products that enable margin against them, a previously unavailable capability.

As per Statista, real estate tokenization will likely emerge as a key segment in the broader tokenized asset market, accounting for around one-third of the total tokenized assets in the global market by 2030. This is a sign of the growing acceptance of blockchain technology in real estate, as it allows fractional ownership and better liquidity. About 12% of real estate companies reported using asset tokenization in 2023, reflecting an increasing trend in digital modes of investment.

Conventional real estate investments are frequently plagued by liquidity constraints as such property transactions are slow and costly. Market liquidity was highlighted as a top challenge by 60% of respondents in a 2024 European real estate industry experts survey. Manifest’s $USH is an example of a blockchain-based ETF that leverages tokenization to become tradable 24/7, bring transaction costs down by reducing counterparty risk and improve accessibility through tokenized ownership.

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