Brazilian Asset Manager Hashdex to Launch Web 3 ETF on Local Stock Exchange

This article is adapted from CoinDesk Brasil, a partnership between CoinDesk and InfoMoney, one of Brazil's leading financial news publications. Follow CoinDesk Brasil on Twitter.

Brazil-based crypto asset manager Hashdex plans to launch a Web 3 exchange-traded fund (ETF) on Brazilian stock exchange B3 on March 30.

The company announced that initial orders for the ETF, which will trade under the ticker WEB311, began on Monday and will last until March 25. Hashdex estimates the starting share price will be $9.72.

The fund, developed in partnership with global crypto index provider CF Benchmarks, will mirror the CF Web 3.0 Smart Contract Platforms Market Cap Index, which contains digital assets native to smart contract blockchains Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT), Algorand (ALGO), Tezos (XTZ) and Cosmos (ATOM). It will not invest in equities.

According to Hashdex, WEB311 is the “world’s first ETF that invests solely of digital assets native to smart contract blockchain networks.”

In January, Simplify Asset Management filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a Web 3 ETF that would trade under the ticker symbol WIII and track Web 3 companies.

Banco Genial, Itaú BBA, XP Investimentos and BTG Pactual will coordinate the offering of WEB311, with a total management fee of 1.3%, Hashdex said.

“The WEB311 ETF not only provides exposure to the smart contract platforms underpinning Web 3, but serves as an accessible and unique way to invest in projects that will be the main engine of the internet of the future,” said Hashdex co-founder and CEO, Marcelo Sampaio.

In February, Hashdex listed a DeFi ETF on B3 that raised $10.5 million at launch.

This article was translated by Andrés Engler, and edited by CoinDesk. The original Portuguese can be found here.