First-Ever AVAX ETF Hits Nasdaq as VanEck Waives Fees on $500M for Avalanche Exposure

Key Takeaways:

• VanEck has been the first listed spot Avalanche (AVAX) ETF in the United States, listed on Nasdaq using the VAVX ticker.
• The fund offers direct exposure to AVAX price performance and, may include, staking rewards, and no sponsor fees on the first 500 million AUM of the fund.
• Located at the bottom of the list, the move is a significant milestone to Avalanche since institutions can now access it through more than Bitcoin and Ether ETFs.

The Avalanche ecosystem crossed a major threshold this week as the first-ever AVAX exchange-traded fund began trading on Nasdaq. The product adds Avalanche to the growing list of crypto networks now accessible through traditional U.S. market infrastructure.

Read More: Grayscale Files S-1 With SEC to Launch Spot Avalanche (AVAX) ETF on Nasdaq

VanEck Debuts First U.S. Spot Avalanche ETF

VanEck officially launched the VanEck Avalanche ETF (VAVX), making it the first and only U.S.-listed exchange-traded product offering spot exposure to AVAX as of January 26, 2026. The fund is designed to track the price of Avalanche’s native token while also capturing staking rewards from a portion of the AVAX held by the trust.

To accelerate the adoption, VanEck will exclude all sponsor fees for VAVX until the fund gets $500 million in assets under management or reaches the time of February 28th 2026, whichever comes first. After this milestone, the sponsor fee will be applied at 0.2%. The brokerage fee may still be applied depending on investors’ transaction platform.

VanEck said the ETF structure is designed to reduce barriers for investors who want to expose Avalanche without holding a token directly or managing  onchain-infrastructure. The company navigates VAVX as a transparent, exchange-traded vehicle, in line with current compliance and custody standards of the U.S. market.

Read More: Avalanche Foundation Eyes $1B Institutional Capital via US Corporate Treasuries

Avalanche’s Institutional Pitch Moves Onchain Access Forward

Avalanche has become more and more positioning itself as an institution-ready blockchain, which is based on high-speed finality and customizable Layer 1 networks. It is designed in such a way that enterprises and organizations can implement specific blockchains that can still be interoperable with the rest of the ecosystem.

High profile users have already been drawn to that design. Several blockchain deployments using the Avalanche infrastructure have been launched by Citi, FIFA, and Games and experimented with by Gunzilla Games, for payment, games, and enterprise applications. That story is now also applied to capital markets through the ETF launch.

AVAX became a part of an expanding list of crypto holdings in the form of exchange-traded funds after spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs were approved. VAVX can provide allocators limited to regulated vehicles with the opportunity to access a smart contract platform without wallets, private keys, or one-to-one staking systems.

In contrast to other past crypto ETPs, VAVX features an exposure to staking rewards, but this technology is more complex. AVAX staked can be locked when activating and deactivating, restricting liquidity at strenuous market intervals. VanEck has disclosed that third-party service providers will be used, introducing operational and counterparty risk.

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