Janus Henderson launches blockchain-native Nasdaq-100 fund on Stellar

What happened

Janus Henderson, the London-based asset manager with roughly half a trillion dollars under management, unveiled JQQQ on Tuesday in partnership with tokenization company Centrifuge. The fund is designed to track the Nasdaq-100 Index and operates exclusively on the Stellar blockchain. According to the announcement, JQQQ is the first blockchain-native fund to provide Nasdaq-100 exposure through an issuer-sponsored strategy, distinguishing it from tokenized versions of existing traditional funds.

The fund is structured as a segregated portfolio of Anemoy Capital SPC Limited, registered in the British Virgin Islands, with Anemoy Asset Management serving as investment manager and Janus Henderson Investors US LLC as sub-investment manager. Centrifuge provides the technology infrastructure for issuing and operating the fund on blockchain, while Nasdaq licenses the index. According to reporting by the Wall Street Journal, the fund targets a minimum investment of $100,000 and is available only to eligible professional investors outside the United States.

A key aspect of JQQQ's design is its potential for onchain composability. Because the fund exists natively on the blockchain, its shares can theoretically plug into other onchain applications, feed into programmable portfolios, and possibly serve as collateral for lending arrangements. However, the fund's legal documentation specifies that any such collateral, lending, or similar uses would come from independent third parties and are not offered, facilitated, or endorsed by Janus Henderson itself.

Why it matters

The launch signals how major institutional asset managers are approaching tokenization differently as the infrastructure matures. Rather than simply digitizing existing securities, Janus Henderson and Centrifuge designed JQQQ to leverage blockchain capabilities from the start. This approach differs from many current tokenized products, which operate as digital wrappers around securities held in traditional custody systems. Centrifuge's chief strategy and growth officer, Anil Sood, noted that "tokenization becomes much more powerful when the assets investors want to own can also become building blocks for an onchain financial system."

Background

This is not Janus Henderson and Centrifuge's first collaboration. In September, the two firms launched an S&P 500 fund on the Base blockchain as part of Janus Henderson's expanding institutional tokenization business. According to Nick Cherney, Janus Henderson's head of innovation, the firm now positions itself as a top five global provider of tokenized funds, with its onchain platform hosting more than $1 billion in institutional strategies across U.S. Treasuries, structured credit, and public equities.

The Nasdaq-100 licensing reflects broader moves by the index operator to expand access to its benchmarks. In April, Nasdaq expanded licensing of the Nasdaq-100 Index to additional asset managers including BlackRock and State Street, while maintaining its longstanding partnership with Invesco, which operates the $499 billion market cap Invesco QQQ Trust. Centrifuge also powers tokenized strategies for other major financial institutions including Apollo, and works with S&P Dow Jones Indices.

What to watch

Stellar's tokenization ecosystem continues to expand. Real-world assets on Stellar exceeded $4 billion in 2026, according to the fund announcement. The network also hosts tokenized assets from major issuers including Spiko, Franklin Templeton, and Ondo. Looking ahead, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation announced in May that it would connect its tokenization service to Stellar, with DTCC-tokenized assets expected to become available in the first half of 2027, potentially including U.S. Treasurys, major index ETFs, and Russell 1000 stocks. In July, tokenization platform Tradable announced plans to bring up to $1 billion in private credit assets to Stellar.

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