Janus Henderson and Centrifuge have launched JQQQ, the first Nasdaq-licensed onchain fund, bringing the Nasdaq-100 Index onto the blockchain. The fund is issuer-sponsored and runs on the Stellar blockchain, according to CoinDesk.
Nasdaq-100 onchain fund (Credits: CoinDesk)
Nasdaq-100 Comes Onchain: Janus Henderson and Centrifuge Launch First Licensed Fund
Janus Henderson, described by CoinDesk as a $500 billion asset manager, is launching the fund with a different approach from third-party stock tokens. Because Janus Henderson itself issues and manages JQQQ, it is not a third-party wrapper around the underlying stocks. Centrifuge provides the blockchain infrastructure, and Nasdaq licenses the index.
The distinction matters in the tokenization debate. Third-party stock tokens are typically created by outside firms claiming to represent shares, while an issuer-sponsored fund puts the asset manager itself behind the onchain product. That structure is central to how Janus Henderson and Centrifuge are positioning JQQQ.
What the Nasdaq-100 Onchain Fund Means
For the Nasdaq-100, one of the world’s most closely watched indexes, an onchain, licensed fund marks a step toward traditional finance products existing natively on blockchain rails rather than only as unofficial token copies. The launch also highlights Stellar as the chosen network for the fund, rather than the larger smart-contract chains that dominate most tokenization headlines.
As with any new fund structure, the key questions for observers will be how the fund operates in practice, how investors access it, and whether other major index providers follow Nasdaq’s licensing lead. For now, JQQQ stands as the first Nasdaq-licensed example of its kind.
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Source: CoinDesk — read the full story there.
