Stellar Expands Its Tokenized-Asset Presence With Nasdaq-100 Tracking Fund Launch
Key Facts
Janus Henderson and Centrifuge announced on October 27, 2026, the launch of the JQQQ fund, which tracks the Nasdaq-100 exclusively on the Stellar network, adding a new institutional investment product to the network’s tokenized-asset ecosystem. The announcement follows a series of moves at Stellar in recent days: Securitize announced plans on October 28 to integrate with the network to issue and manage tokenized financial assets. Securitize’s announcement did not disclose which assets the plan would support. JQQQ’s launch points to a shift in asset-tokenization initiatives from infrastructure to specific products, while the scope of the other integration remains undisclosed. The move coincided with the Stellar Development Foundation’s announcement on October 29 of a strategic investment in Marketnode to expand institutional access to tokenized financial products on the network across Asia-Pacific.
JQQQ is available only to eligible investors in jurisdictions where it may legally be offered and marketed, and is not available to U.S. persons, according to the launch announcement. Janus Henderson manages nearly half a trillion dollars in assets, while its on-chain platform includes institutional strategies worth more than $1 billion, according to the same announcement. The fund forms part of a large asset manager’s effort to offer investment products on distributed-ledger technology infrastructure. But the restrictions in the announcement limit access to specific investor groups and markets. The announcement provides no further details on the assets the fund will hold or how it will be made available beyond the stated eligibility requirements.
Stellar provides an existing asset base against which the new fund can be compared: the foundation said real-world assets tokenized on the network reached $4 billion on September 1, 2026. The foundation also counted 67 tokenized products and 10 regulated issuers on the network. In its first-quarter report, Stellar said tokenized real-world assets exceeded $2 billion after the quarter ended, up from $785 million at the end of 2025, or about 2.5 times in one quarter. The foundation also provided a figure excluding stablecoins: real-world assets stood at $1.52 billion at the end of the first quarter, up 91% during the quarter, then exceeded $2 billion in April and $3 billion in June. These figures measure assets outstanding at different points in time and do not represent daily flows into funds.
In June, Stellar said real-world assets on the network reached $3 billion, following milestones of $1 billion in January and $2 billion in April of the same year. Citing RWA.xyz data, the foundation also reported that non-U.S. sovereign instruments on the network totaled about $490 million on August 20, and that Stellar had surpassed Ethereum in this category. Across the tokenized-fund market as a whole, Token Terminal reported that its value rose from $3 billion on October 9, 2023, to $35.1 billion on October 7, 2026. Tokenized U.S. Treasury bill funds grew 47-fold to $13.9 billion over the same period. These figures provide context for the market’s expansion, but do not establish a direct link between JQQQ’s launch or the integration announcements and any specific daily flow.
Stellar’s activity extends beyond funds and real-world assets. The foundation said stablecoin transfers totaled $11.4 billion in the second quarter of 2026, a quarterly record and a 72% increase from the previous quarter. On October 29, MetaMask announced that Stellar had become a virtual network in its mobile and extension versions, with the integration available the same day. On institutional infrastructure, Stellar said Marketnode provides infrastructure across funds, credit and structured products, and its services include tokenized-asset issuance and distribution, as well as its services; Marketnode also announced that selected BNY Investments funds were available on the network. These partnerships give the network additional avenues to expand the use of tokenized financial products. The investment announcement in Marketnode did not specify an expansion timeline or subsequent numerical targets.