From Gold ETFs to Solana ETFs: Uncovering VanEck's Rise to Prominence
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From Gold ETFs to Solana ETFs: Uncovering VanEck's Rise to Prominence
If BlackRock is the industry's steady and success-oriented leader, VanEck is the eternal pioneer—always full of ideas and unafraid to boldly experiment and take risks.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: jk, Odaily Planet Daily
VanEck, the ETF-focused investment firm, has risen through bold innovation and strategic decision-making. From launching gold ETFs to its recent Solana ETF application, VanEck continues to push boundaries and drive transformation in financial markets. As the cryptocurrency market rapidly evolves, VanEck remains at the industry's forefront, filing for a Solana ETF and opening new investment avenues for investors.
In this article, Odaily Planet Daily will explore VanEck’s rise from its early days to its strategic shift from gold ETFs to Solana ETFs.
The History of VanEck
In 1955, John van Eck founded Van Eck Global, capitalizing on the growing international stock market as part of the post-Marshall Plan opening of Western Europe to U.S. investors. His goal was to bring post-World War II investment opportunities to American investors. His father had immigrated from the Netherlands to the United States in the early 20th century. That same year, Van Eck launched its first international equity mutual fund.
In 1968, the company launched one of America’s first gold funds—the International Investors Gold Fund—and shifted most of its portfolio into stocks of gold mining companies. During the 1970s to mid-1980s, gold experienced a bull market, bringing significant success to the firm. The International Investors Gold Fund attracted substantial inflows, managing over $1 billion in assets. John van Eck was invited onto prominent talk shows such as Wall Street Week and The Merv Griffin Show.
1980s to Early 2000s: A Period of Decline
However, after the mid-1980s, the golden era of the gold market ended, and the company’s business slowed. By February 1998, assets under management (AUM) in the International Investors Gold Fund had shrunk to $250 million. Jan van Eck, John’s son, recalled: “He became a gold guy. Essentially, throughout my entire career, the value of gold kept falling, which in our industry means redemptions, depreciating funds, as gold prices dropped from $800 per ounce down to as low as $250.”
To counter the decline in the gold market, the company began developing investment operations in Asian emerging markets during the 1990s. In 1996, it signed a joint venture agreement with Shenwan Hongyuan’s predecessor, Shenyin & Wanguo, aiming to enter China’s fund market. However, the 1997 Asian financial crisis drastically reduced demand for emerging market funds. One of its funds, the Van Eck Asia Dynasty Fund, saw AUM drop from $46.3 million at the end of 1996 to $11.2 million by the end of 1997.
From 1994 to 1998, the company’s total AUM declined by 21%, falling from $1.82 billion to $1.44 billion. In 1997, metal prices hit a 12-year low. Only its Global Hard Assets Fund posted a positive 26% return over the three years ending December 1997. As a result, the company faced redemptions and a shrinking client base.
After 2006
In 2006, the company decided to enter the ETF business, launching its first ETF product, the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF, allowing investors to gain exposure to gold via the stock market rather than direct physical investment. Although less popular than SPDR Gold Shares launched in November 2004, it grew to manage $5 billion in assets, becoming one of the company’s greatest successes. By November 2009, the firm had launched over 20 ETFs, with total AUM reaching $9.7 billion.
John van Eck frequently traveled overseas for business, particularly to Europe. On one trip, he met Sigrid, a German woman 20 years his junior, whom he brought back to the U.S. and married. She later became VanEck’s CFO and mother of two children. In the early 1990s, his sons Derek and Jan joined the company, initiating a series of strategic moves focused primarily on ETFs, which led to significant growth. After Derek passed away in 2010, Jan took over leadership of the company’s expanding global operations—a role he maintains today. A Stanford Law School graduate inspired by tech entrepreneurs, Jan joined the family business and spearheaded the transition toward ETFs.
Jan van Eck said: “My father deeply valued economics and history, but I’m more business-oriented, which allowed me to seize the opportunity in ETFs and pivot toward passively managed gold funds.”
In Europe, VanEck opened its first office in 2008, focusing on index products, followed by a Swiss office in 2010 targeting institutional distribution and developing alternative and active investment management strategies. In 2018, VanEck acquired Dutch ETF provider Think ETF Asset Management B.V. to expand its ETF offerings across Europe and international markets.
On March 2, 2021, VanEck launched the Vectors Social Sentiment ETF (ticker: BUZZ) on NYSE Arca. The fund consists of stocks trending on social media. On its first trading day, it attracted $280 million in inflows, making it one of the 12 best ETF debuts in history.
Today, VanEck has launched over 100 ETFs, managing more than $90 billion in assets.
VanEck’s success timeline, source: VanEck official website
Gold ETFs and VanEck
Gold ETFs are financial products that track the price of gold, enabling investors to buy and sell shares of gold through stock exchanges without holding physical gold. The emergence of gold ETFs greatly simplified gold investing, reducing transaction costs and risks.
The first gold exchange-traded product was the Central Fund of Canada, a closed-end fund established in 1961. In 1983, it amended its charter to offer investors products backed by physical holdings of gold and silver.
In 1968, VanEck launched America’s first open-ended gold equity mutual fund.
In 1971, U.S. President Nixon severed the dollar’s link to the gold standard. VanEck’s gold fund (now known as the VanEck International Investors Gold Fund) was the first of its kind and became the top-performing fund in the industry as gold surged from $35 to $800 per ounce.
Gold performance since 2000. Source: VanEck
Despite John’s passion for gold, his son Jan van Eck recognized that overreliance on gold made the company vulnerable. He shifted the firm’s focus and pioneered its move into the ETF space. Today, ETFs account for 90% of VanEck’s business.
On March 28, 2003, the first gold ETF, developed by ETF Securities, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. On November 18, 2004, State Street Corporation launched SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) in the U.S., which surpassed $1 billion in assets within its first three trading days.
In 2006, just two years after the first U.S. gold ETF, VanEck launched its own gold ETF, the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF. To date, the ETF averages around $20 million in daily trading volume, with net assets under management reaching $13.2 billion.
VanEck in the Crypto World: Filing for the First Bitcoin Futures ETF, the First Spot Ethereum ETF, and the First Solana ETF
VanEck is a major player in the well-known Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF spaces. Unlike BlackRock, which enjoys high approval rates, VanEck carries the label of being the “first to file, willing to fail.” On August 11, 2017, VanEck filed an S-1 registration statement to launch the first Bitcoin futures ETF, becoming the first issuer to apply for an ETF investing in Bitcoin futures. Shortly afterward, VanEck also filed for a spot Bitcoin ETF.
However, in November 2021, the U.S. SEC rejected the application, citing concerns that potential fraud in the crypto market could spill over into regulated exchanges. Between 2021 and March 2023, the application was rejected three times. Yet VanEck persisted, and eventually succeeded when the wave of spot Bitcoin ETF approvals arrived in 2024.
Later, VanEck became the first company to file for a spot Ethereum ETF in 2021—nearly three years before the SEC began engaging with issuers like BlackRock, Fidelity, and Ark Invest.
But unlike Fidelity and BlackRock, which remain focused only on Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs (BlackRock’s digital assets head Robert Mitchnick publicly stated that clients show “almost no interest” in cryptocurrencies beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum), VanEck took an additional step: filing for a Solana ETF.
At the end of June, VanEck submitted an application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a spot Solana ETF, becoming the first issuer to do so. In a post on X, Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s Head of Digital Assets Research, stated: “SOL’s decentralized nature, high utility, and economic viability align with characteristics of other established digital commodities, reinforcing our belief that SOL may be a valuable commodity with uses for investors, developers, and entrepreneurs seeking alternatives to duopolistic app store models.”
Coindesk noted, “VanEck is known for its pioneering role in the digital asset space.”
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