Janus Henderson launches Nasdaq-100 fund JQQQ on Stellar, off-limits to U.S. persons

Janus Henderson, a global asset manager with about half a trillion dollars in assets under management, has launched a fund on a blockchain that tracks the Nasdaq-100, the U.S. tech-heavy stock index. Janus Henderson and Centrifuge, a company that tokenizes real-world assets, said on Oct. 27 that they had launched the fund, JQQQ. The fund is issued only on the Stellar (XLM) network.

In a press release, the two companies described JQQQ as "the first blockchain native fund offering exposure to the Nasdaq-100 Index through an issuer-sponsored investment strategy." Janus Henderson manages the fund, while Centrifuge provides the infrastructure for issuing and running it onchain. The index is used under license from Nasdaq. The companies said the product goes beyond reflecting existing securities on blockchain rails and is built for issuance and operation on public blockchain infrastructure. They said fees were "competitive" but did not disclose a figure.

"…combining Janus Henderson’s investment expertise with innovative digital infrastructure to meet the evolving needs of our clients."

Nick Cherney, Head of Innovation at Janus Henderson

A BVI fund off-limits to U.S. persons

JQQQ's formal name is the Janus Henderson NASDAQ-100 Index Fund Segregated Portfolio. It is a segregated portfolio of Anemoy Capital SPC Limited, a British Virgin Islands company. Anemoy Asset Management Limited is the investment manager, and Janus Henderson Investors US LLC is the sub-investment manager.

The press release said the fund is available only to eligible investors in jurisdictions where it may lawfully be offered, and it is not available to U.S. persons. Cointelegraph, citing The Wall Street Journal, reported a minimum investment of $100,000. The product is aimed at institutional and professional investors rather than retail traders on exchanges.

No direct ownership of index stocks

The companies said JQQQ provides indirect economic exposure to an underlying product tracking the Nasdaq-100 and does not convey ownership of, or shareholder rights in, the index's stocks. The risk disclosures add that the fund's value may deviate from the index and may be lost if the fund liquidates or becomes insolvent.

The release also listed risks specific to tokenized fund shares. Failures or compromises of blockchain networks, smart contracts (self-executing programs), digital wallets or third-party platforms could delay or prevent transfers or redemptions, or result in losses. Any use of fund shares as collateral or for lending relates only to functionality that independent third parties may offer, and Janus Henderson does not offer, facilitate or endorse it.

Janus Henderson's onchain lineup tops $1 billion

Janus Henderson said the launch expands its onchain platform, which now includes more than $1 billion in institutional strategies across U.S. Treasuries, structured credit and public equities. Centrifuge said it powers onchain strategies for Apollo, Janus Henderson and S&P Dow Jones Indices, with its tokens live across DeFi (decentralized finance) protocols such as Sky, Aave and Morpho.

"As investors explore new ways to access markets through digital infrastructure, demand continues to grow for exposure to established, transparent benchmarks," said Sean Wasserman, Head of Index Product Management at Nasdaq, which licensed the index. "Tokenization becomes much more powerful when the assets investors want to own can also become building blocks for an onchain financial system," said Anil Sood, Chief Strategy and Growth Officer at Centrifuge, who described the fund as a licensed, issuer-sponsored institutional product.

"Stellar was purpose-built for regulated finance, and we expect many more products like this to follow," said Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF). The press release said real-world assets on Stellar surpassed $4 billion in 2026, spanning tokenized U.S. Treasuries, sovereign debt, money-market funds, credit and other instruments. Cointelegraph, citing data site RWA.xyz, reported that Stellar has about $3.8 billion worth of tokenized real-world assets on its network, ranking fourth behind Ethereum, BNB Chain and Solana. According to the same outlet, U.S. settlement firm DTCC announced plans for Stellar in May, and private credit platform Tradable followed in July.

XLM at 232 won on Upbit

Stellar's native coin, Stellar Lumens (XLM), traded at 232 won on Upbit's Korean won market at around 12:30 p.m. KST on Oct. 28, up 1.75% from the previous close. It was also 232 won on Bithumb. At the same time, XLM traded at $0.1726 on Binance, up 2.7% over 24 hours. Converted to won, the Binance price was about 229 won, putting the kimchi premium (the gap between prices on Korean exchanges and global markets) at about 1.3%. The Binance futures funding rate was 0.0069%.

Centrifuge's token CFG is also listed on Upbit's Korean won market. At the same time, it traded at 148 won on Upbit, down 0.67% from the previous day.