ProShares is launching the Metaverse Theme ETF, which will give investors a direct path to buying into a potential trillion-dollar industry driven by virtual worlds and cutting-edge technology.
These days, any player in the technology space that isn’t already in the metaverse is almost certainly headed there. And while Tinder takes dating into the Web3 era and Stanford calls a new paradigm for virtual classes into session, Bethesda, Maryland-based ProShares has filed paperwork with the SEC to allow you to invest in the top companies that are building out the metaverse in which all this innovation lives, as Bloomberg was first to report.
Earlier this year, top execs from Morgan Stanley estimated that the metaverse was on the path to being an $8 trillion business.
And now, one exchange-traded fund is democratizing the opportunity to get into the game.
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ProShares is seeking to launch a metaverse-focused security that packages stocks from big names like Apple, Microsoft, and Meta (formerly Facebook). All told, the “Metaverse Theme ETF” will track the performance of the Solactive Metaverse Theme Index (SOMETAV).
Given the rapid rise of metaverse development, there is a whole ecosystem that is unfolding in real time to support its diverse needs and systems.
A recent report estimates the metaverse’s current value at $2.2 billion.
ProShares’ Metaverse Theme ETF will actually be the second such fund pegged to this particular area of Web3 growth and development. The first, Roundhill Ball ETF ($META), launched in June of this year and trades on the NYSE — and recently, they’ve seen a massive influx of investors.
One report estimates that following Facebook’s rebranding as Meta — which strongly signaled the social media giant’s emphasis on the decentralized, distributed networking that’s the bedrock of Web3 — Roundhill Ball saw a 548% increase in investment to support, netting $823.2 million.
In last week’s filing, Roundhill Ball revealed that it had added major names such as Nike and Galaxy Digital to its securities offerings.
In the big picture, $META and ProShares’ US-based ETFs are joined by four similar securities listed in South Korea and two in Canada.
Earlier this year, ProShares became the first stateside funds to give investors an easy way to add cryptocurrency and blockchain technology exposure to investment portfolios. It kicked things off with a bang, trading nearly $1 billion on its first day.
Fueling the Ecosystem
With the rapid rise of the metaverse, companies around the world are working together to build out the infrastructure to support their ongoing growth. According to the SEC filings, the ETF will include:
- Metaverse Technology
- Metaverse Platforms
- Metaverse Devices
- Interchange Standards
- Data Processing
Together, the vast array of supports will jointly enact an alternative space that fuses virtual, physical, and augmented realities. They will fuel the metaverse, including from data processing systems that allow the metaverse to exist to virtual reality headsets that allow everyone to access its world of wares.
Selected Stocks AmongMetaverse Theme ETF’s Holdings
The Metaverse Theme ETF includes:
- $APPL: Apple
- $INTC: Intel
- $FB: Meta (formerly Facebook)
- $MSFT: Microsoft
- $NVDA: Nvidia
According to initial reports, Apple, Meta, and Nvidia represent the largest stake in the ETF portfolio. The full set of listings includes stocks that are featured on the NYSE and the NASDAQ.
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What is an ETF?
An exchange-traded fund resembles a mutual fund in several ways, but with a couple of key departures:
- It’s traded on a stock exchange just like an individual company stock would be
- As a result, an ETF’s share price fluctuates throughout the day while markets are open; a mutual fund’s share price is updated just once per day.
Generally speaking, exchange-traded funds are pegged to existing financial indexes (like SOMETAV or the S&P 500), or other sectors or combinations of sectors within the broader economy built around a fundamental theme — like the ever-expanding mataverse, for instance.
