{"id":2391,"date":"2025-12-11T20:19:31","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T20:19:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/vaneck-turns-online-slang-into-strategy-with-degen-economy-etf\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T20:19:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T20:19:31","slug":"vaneck-turns-online-slang-into-strategy-with-degen-economy-etf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/vaneck-turns-online-slang-into-strategy-with-degen-economy-etf\/","title":{"rendered":"VanEck turns online slang into strategy with &#8216;Degen Economy&#8217; ETF"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"RegularArticle-ArticleBody-5\" data-module=\"ArticleBody\" data-test=\"articleBody-2\" data-analytics=\"RegularArticle-articleBody-5-2\"><span class=\"HighlightShare-hidden\" style=\"top:0;left:0\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbed\" id=\"ArticleBody-InlineImage-107408916\" data-test=\"InlineImage\">\n<div class=\"InlineImage-wrapper\">\n<div>\n<p>The logos of the cryptocurrencies Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), the stablecoin Tether (USDT) and Binance Coin (BNB) can be seen on the trading platform CoinMarketCap.<\/p>\n<p>Silas Stein | Picture Alliance | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>VanEck is betting that what started as a slang for reckless online traders can sell an ETF.<\/p>\n<p>The firm is renaming its <span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-1\">gaming ETF (BJK)<span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"\/><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span> the &#8220;VanEck Degen Economy ETF,&#8221; flipping the once-pejorative term into a marketing pitch for the boom in digital finance, gig platforms and online betting, according to a regulatory filing. <\/p>\n<p>The change takes effect after the market close on April 8, resetting a fund launched in 2008 that has just $23 million in assets. Alongside the new name, the ETF will adopt a revamped benchmark index and a broad investment mandate meant to capture what VanEck calls the emerging &#8220;Degen Economy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Degen,&#8221; short for &#8220;degenerate,&#8221; originated in gambling circles and later migrated into crypto and retail-trading communities as a tongue-in-cheek label for people making high-risk, often impulsive bets.<\/p>\n<p>The original gaming ETF targeted casinos, sports betting, lottery services and gaming\u00a0players. Now the Degen ETF is expanding into companies earning at least 50% of revenue from &#8220;Millennial Finance&#8221; and &#8220;Gig Economy and Online Forums.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Millennial Finance&#8221; includes digital brokerages, neobanks, crypto exchanges and BNPL or\u00a0buy now, pay later providers. &#8220;Gig Economy and Online Forums&#8221; targets ride-hailing, delivery apps, freelance marketplaces and community platforms.<\/p>\n<p>The VanEck Gaming ETF is up only about 3% this year, significantly trailing the S&amp;P 500.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The logos of the cryptocurrencies Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), the stablecoin Tether (USDT) and Binance Coin (BNB) can be seen on the trading platform CoinMarketCap. Silas Stein | Picture Alliance | Getty Images VanEck is betting that what started as a slang for reckless online traders can sell an ETF. The firm is renaming its [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2392,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2386,768,440,499,2385,1952,2384,2383],"class_list":["post-2391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-loan","tag-degen","tag-economy","tag-etf","tag-online","tag-slang","tag-strategy","tag-turns","tag-vaneck"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}