Fathom and Neighborhood Weigh $130M+ Asset Deal to Replace Merger

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced on September 24 that it had updated its frequently asked questions (FAQ) guidance for registered firms on the use of crypto assets and blockchain technology. The update adds four new items and revises one item in the FAQ published on March 20. The new items state that futures commission merchants (FCMs) and derivatives clearing organizations (DCOs) may use tokenized versions of already-permitted investments to manage customer funds, provided the tokens give holders legal and economic rights equivalent to those of the conventional assets. The update also permits firms to satisfy recordkeeping obligations with records kept on a blockchain, without requiring off-chain copies, though in the case of public chains it requires arrangements to submit records even during outages. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig commented, "I am pleased that we were able to deliver an update consistent with efforts to bring regulatory clarity to the crypto industry." The update came just after the Senate on September 15 rejected, by a vote of 49 to 50, a procedural motion to begin consideration of the crypto market structure bill known as the CLARITY Act. Selig said the following day, September 16, that he would develop rules under existing authority, and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins also said in July that the agency would craft its own rules if the bill stalled.

US asset manager ARK Invest announced on September 24 that it has tokenized its roughly $1.3 billion ARK Venture Fund through the digital securities platform Securitize. This marks the first time a fund managed by ARK Invest has been brought on-chain. ARKVX is an actively managed fund that invests in both private and public companies developing innovative technologies, with holdings including OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe, and Databricks. Through Securitize, investors can access ARKVX tokens on Ethereum. Founder, CEO, and CIO Cathie Wood described the initiative as putting into practice her conviction about the evolution of capital markets. The partnership between the two companies began when ARK Invest made a strategic investment in Securitize in October 2025.

Ondo Finance is now packaging three investment portfolios designed by BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, as blockchain-based tokens. The move places a subset of BlackRock-designed portfolios onto blockchain rails through tokenization, with Ondo Finance handling the packaging rather than BlackRock itself. BlackRock is described as the world's largest asset manager, underscoring the scale of the firm whose strategies are being brought on-chain. Neither the specific portfolios involved nor the value of the tokenized offerings was disclosed.