include compute-specific hardware, such as graphic processing unit chips and servers, or networking-specific hardware, such as fiber optic cabling or wireless chipsets.
•Compute – The enablement and supply of computing power to support the Metaverse, supporting such diverse and demanding functions as physics calculation, rendering, data reconciliation and synchronization, artificial intelligence, projection, motion capture and translation. This category may include blockchain-based technologies for the management of marketplaces and networks for decentralized computing capacity.
•Networking – The provision of persistent, real-time connections, high bandwidth, and decentralized data transmission by backbone providers (i.e., companies that provide access to high-speed data transmission networks), the networks, exchange centers, and services that route amongst them, as well as those managing “last mile” (i.e., the function of connecting telecommunication services directly to end-users, both businesses and residential customers, usually in a dense area) data to consumers.
•Virtual Platforms – The development and operation of immersive digital and often three-dimensional simulations, environments and worlds wherein users and businesses can explore, create, socialize and participate in a wide variety of experiences (e.g., race a car, paint a painting, attend a class, listen to music), and engage in economic activity. These businesses are differentiated from traditional online experiences and multiplayer video games by the existence of a large ecosystem of developers and content creators which generate the majority of content on and/or collect the majority of revenues built on top of the underlying platform.
•Interchange Standards – The tools, protocols, formats, services, and engines which serve as actual or de facto standards for interoperability, and enable the creation, operation and ongoing improvements to the Metaverse. These standards support activities such as rendering, physics and artificial intelligence, as well as asset formats and their import/export from experience to experience, forward compatibility management and updating, tooling and authoring activities, and information management.
•Payments – The support of digital payment processes, platforms, and operations, which includes cryptocurrencies, the companies that are fiat on-ramps to those cryptocurrencies, companies that provide or service the infrastructure and technologies to “mint” cryptocurrencies, and companies that provide the financial services necessary to trade and manage cryptocurrencies, as well as issuers of financial products that provide a means of obtaining exposure to cryptocurrencies.
•Content, Assets and Identity Services – The design/creation, sale, re-sale, storage, secure protection and financial management of digital assets, such as virtual goods, as connected to user data and identity. This contains all business and services “built on top of” and/or which “service” the Metaverse, but which are not vertically integrated into a virtual platform by the platform owner, including content which is built specifically for the Metaverse. This category may include blockchain-based technologies for the decentralized creation and trading of digital assets.
Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) will be invested in Metaverse Companies, which may include investments in American Depository Receipts (“ADRs”). For purposes of this policy, the Fund defines Metaverse Companies as foreign and domestic issuers that engage in activities or provide products, services, technologies, or technological capabilities to enable the Metaverse, and benefit from its generated revenues.
Generally, the Fund will invest in those companies with a minimum market capitalization of $250 million (and thereafter maintain a market capitalization of $200 million) and average daily trading volume (“ADV”) of at least $2 million over a trailing six-month period (or if unavailable, since the issuer’s listing date), but the Fund may invest in companies with any market capitalization and ADV. The Fund may invest in U.S. and non-U.S. companies (including those