KuCoin Claims Bragging Rights as First Exchange to Offer NFT ETFs

The novel suite of ETF products is denominated in USDT and offers fractional ownership of five blue chip NFT collections.

AccessTimeIconJul 29, 2022 at 2:32 p.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 6:49 p.m. UTC
10 Years of Decentralizing the Future
May 29-31, 2024 - Austin, TexasThe biggest and most established global hub for everything crypto, blockchain and Web3.Register Now

Cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin is offering retail investors fractional ownership of top non-fungible tokens (NFT) such as Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) in the form of exchange-traded funds (ETF) available to its customers.

Claiming to be the first large exchange to offer such a product, KuCoin’s USDT stablecoin-denominated suite of ETFs are being offered in partnership with Fracton Protocol, a service dedicated to fractionalizing valuable NFTs into fungible Ethereum-based ERC-20 tokens, the companies said on Friday.

Blue chip NFTs have dropped in value to some extent, along with everything else in crypto right now, but still, the floor price for something in the BAYC collection is currently around 86 ETH or $144,000, according to CoinGecko

The ERC-20 tokens contained within KuCoin’s NFT funds represent 1/1,000,000 ownership of the BAYC collection, for example, denoted by a hiBAYC token. To start, KuCoin’s “NFT ETF Trading Zone” will first list 5 NFT ETFs covering hiBAYC, hiPUNKS, hiSAND33, hiKODA and hiENS4 as underlying assets as a beginning, the company said in a press release.

As well as lowering the bar for retail investors, using the fund removes the need to manage NFT infrastructure elements, such as wallets and smart contracts, KuCoin added.

“We are very excited to become the first centralized crypto exchange to support NFT ETFs that allow users to conveniently invest and trade top NFTs directly with USDT. In the future, KuCoin will keep exploring more NFT-related products for our users,” said KuCoin CEO Johnny Lyu in a statement.

KuCoin currently provides spot trading, margin trading, P2P fiat trading, futures trading, staking, and lending to its 20 million users in 207 countries and regions.

Back in May of this year, KuCoin raised $150 million in a Series B funding round led by Jump Crypto, which valued the exchange at $10 billion.

Disclosure

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.

Ian Allison

Ian Allison is an award-winning senior reporter at CoinDesk. He holds ETH.


Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.