Tokenized Nasdaq-100 fund JQQQ from Janus Henderson launches on Stellar

One of the world's best-known equity benchmarks now has a blockchain-native home. Janus Henderson and Centrifuge launched JQQQ, a tokenized Nasdaq-100 fund issued on the Stellar network, on Tuesday.

What happened

Janus Henderson, which manages about half a trillion dollars, runs the fund, Centrifuge provides the onchain infrastructure and Nasdaq licenses the index, the companies said. They call JQQQ the first fund built natively on a blockchain to give Nasdaq-100 exposure via an issuer-sponsored strategy, and say it carries competitive fees. It launches only on Stellar, where real-world assets passed $4 billion in 2026, according to the release.

The launch takes Janus Henderson's onchain platform above $1 billion across U.S. Treasuries, structured credit and public equities. It follows SPXA, the Janus Henderson Anemoy S&P 500 Fund introduced last year as the first tokenized index fund licensed by S&P Dow Jones Indices, CoinDesk noted.

"As investors explore new ways to access markets through digital infrastructure, demand continues to grow for exposure to established, transparent benchmarks," Nasdaq's index product chief Sean Wasserman said. Stellar Development Foundation CEO Denelle Dixon added that the network "was purpose-built for regulated finance" and that she expects "many more products like this to follow."

Why it matters

The structure is the point. Third-party stock tokens can be backed by custodied shares or built as separate instruments that track prices, and their holders don't necessarily own the shares or get shareholder rights, CoinDesk explained. Companies have pushed back: issuers objected to plans to trade blockchain versions of their stock on OKX-ICE, a fight we followed in OKX-ICE tokenized stock objections. A manager-issued tokenized Nasdaq-100 fund avoids that conflict because the product is created by the asset manager under an index license.

"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 of Centrifuge. Janus Henderson's Nick Cherney called the firm a top five global provider of tokenized funds. Traditional managers keep arriving onchain, from Janus Henderson to Aviva's tokenized sterling fund on the XRP Ledger.

Centrifuge is not new to this. The platform says it already powers onchain strategies for Apollo, Janus Henderson and S&P Dow Jones Indices, with its tokens live across DeFi protocols including Sky, Aave and Morpho. That existing plumbing is what could let JQQQ shares move into lending markets or structured products later, rather than sitting idle in a wallet.

What's next

The partners point to programmable portfolios, collateral and lending built on the fund's shares, which CoinDesk said would depend on regulatory requirements and platform support. The release did not give a launch size, so early asset figures will show whether a tokenized Nasdaq-100 fund can attract money beyond pilot investors. Details are in Janus Henderson's announcement.