In a statement posted on social media platform X, Vaneck Ventures Wyatt Lonergan and partner Juan Lopez’s general partner announced the company’s investment in Manifest, a platform that turns American real estate into distributed finance (DEFI).
According to its website, the “soon-to-released” manifesto offers “tokenized ETFs” $USH (US housing), backed by Home Equity Investments (HEIS).
“Manifesto actually pioneers a new kind of tokenization in our view by applying ETF style diversification to US real estate and packaging it as smart contracts available across the public blockchain,” Lopez told ETF.com. “Unlike traditional ETF trading in legacy exchanges, $USH brings the benefits of blockchain (smoothness, programmaticity, and global accessibility) to real estate exposure in a way that has not been done before.”
Most importantly in today’s announcement for ETF investors, there is an immediate option to invest in real estate investment trusts (REITs) or a variety of US real estate that are not tied to direct ownership.
He added that instead of using products like Vanguard Real Estate ETF (VNQ), whose assets are primarily real estate rental business, investors will have the option of gaining capital-efficient direct exposure to the dominant real estate asset class in the country.
“The $USH in the manifesto represents a significant evolution beyond traditional real estate ETFs. By leveraging blockchain technology, $USH increases liquidity, capital efficiency and tax benefits,” says Sokoll-Ward. “Unlike the claims of stock market volatility, centralized control, limited trading hours and high stock volatility, $USH is completely chained and supported by home equity investments.”
He added that the structure “eliminates intermediaries, reduces fees, increases transparency and ensures that all assets are fully secured by the capital of the real estate.”
Vaneck Ventures, which co-led the Manifesto’s $2.5 million pre-seed funding round and the lattice fund, was launched last October by the fund giant.
The $30 million early stage fund marks Vaneck’s expansion into venture capital and was created to invest in “a visionary founder operating at the intersection of fintech, digital assets and artificial intelligence.”
“Tokenized financial products like $USH represent the natural next step in asset management. They introduce 24/7 liquidity, seamless global settlement and accessibility, and direct programmership,” Lopez said. “These are features that have enhanced the growth of defi and stablecoins over the past few years. Traditional ETFs simply don’t have. Developers cannot easily access this type of assets and build products that allow margins, for example.”