Wyatt Lonergan and Juan Lopez, the key figures at VanEck Ventures, recently took to social media platform X to reveal their company’s latest venture: a strategic investment in Manifest. This innovative platform is set to bridge the world of American real estate with the transformative powers of decentralized finance, or DeFi.
Though Manifest is still in its pre-launch phase, the anticipation is building around its flagship offering: a “tokenized ETF” known as $USH (U.S. Housing). This novel financial product draws its backing from home equity investments, or HEIs, promising a fresh take on real estate investment.
Lopez articulated to etf.com, “What Manifest is doing is groundbreaking in the realm of tokenization. They’re introducing an ETF-like diversification model to the U.S. real estate market, wrapping it inside a smart contract that’s accessible via public blockchains. This is a major leap from how traditional ETFs operate on older exchanges. $USH is bringing to the table the blockchain benefits of liquidity, programmability, and global reach—something that’s never been done in real estate before.”
For ETF investors, this development is a game-changer, according to Manifest’s Founder and CEO, Nathaniel Sokoll-Ward. He pointed out that investors will soon have an avenue to invest in a diversified slice of U.S. real estate without having to rely on traditional vehicles like real estate investment trusts (REITs) or directly owning properties.
Sokoll-Ward further explained that, unlike offerings such as the Vanguard Real Estate ETF (VNQ)—which primarily consists of real estate rental businesses—investors can now obtain “capital-efficient, direct exposure to the foremost real estate asset class in the U.S.: owner-occupied single-family residential real estate equity.”
This token, $USH, marks a momentous shift beyond standard real estate ETFs. Sokoll-Ward noted that, by harnessing blockchain technology, $USH improves liquidity, enhances capital efficiency, and offers superior tax advantages. It sidesteps the usual pitfalls faced by publicly traded REIT ETFs, such as stock market fluctuations, centralized control, limited trading windows, and hefty fees. Fully integrated on-chain and backed by Home Equity Investments, $USH stands out by cutting out intermediaries, lowering fees, boosting transparency, and ensuring complete collateralization with real estate equity.
VanEck Ventures took the lead in Manifest’s $2.5 million pre-seed funding round, alongside Lattice Fund. Launched by VanEck back in October, this $30 million early-stage fund marks the company’s deeper dive into the realm of venture capital, aimed at supporting “visionary founders at the crossroad of fintech, digital assets, and artificial intelligence.”
Lopez emphasized, “Tokenized financial instruments like $USH are the natural evolution in asset management. They bring about 24/7 liquidity, straightforward global settlement, and unparalleled accessibility and programmability.” He compared these traits to the drivers that spurred growth in DeFi and stablecoins in recent years, which traditional ETFs lack. He added, “Developers now have the ability to tap into this asset class and innovate on products that could, for example, enable margin opportunities—something that wasn’t feasible before.”
