TL;DR
- Yorkville America launched the MANGOS Plus Index ETF, ticker FRUT, shifting toward artificial intelligence after Truth Social withdrew two crypto ETF registrations in May.
- The withdrawn plans included a Bitcoin and Ether ETF weighted roughly 60% Bitcoin and 40% Ethereum, alongside a Cronos-focused yield product.
- Yorkville says a 1940 Act structure offers greater strategic flexibility, while the crowded spot Bitcoin ETF market may also explain the pivot toward AI investing.
Yorkville America has launched the MANGOS Plus Index ETF, ticker FRUT, shifting its product focus toward artificial intelligence after the May withdrawal of two Truth Social crypto ETF registration statements. The fund targets the hardware and platform layers of AI, giving investors what Yorkville describes as a single-ticket way to access the theme. The strategic contrast is hard to miss: a firm recently associated with Bitcoin and Ethereum funds is now emphasizing AI infrastructure instead. Yorkville previously served as investment adviser to Truth Social Funds, the ETF arm of Trump Media & Technology Group.
Yorkville Repositions After Its Crypto ETF Withdrawals
The abandoned crypto push had included the Truth Social Bitcoin and Ether ETF, filed in February with an allocation of roughly 60% Bitcoin and 40% Ethereum. Another filing covered the Truth Social Cronos Yield Maximizer ETF, centered on Cronos, with Crypto.com expected to provide custody, liquidity and staking services. Both were structured to distribute staking rewards to shareholders. The withdrawals therefore closed a broad digital-asset effort rather than a single Bitcoin proposal. Truth Social withdrew the Form S-1 registrations for its Bitcoin ETF and Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF in May, saying it would not pursue the offerings at that time.
Yorkville framed the retreat as a structural repositioning. President Steve Neamtz said the Investment Company Act of 1940 framework would allow differentiated strategies that were unavailable under the Securities Act of 1933 structure used for the withdrawn filings. The shift suggests Yorkville sees more flexibility in changing the regulatory wrapper than abandoning themed ETFs altogether. Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart offered another interpretation, pointing to saturation in the spot Bitcoin ETF market and noting Morgan Stanley’s MSBT had arrived with a 14-basis-point fee, underscoring how difficult differentiation has become.
Competition is substantial. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, approved in January 2024, have accumulated about $57.7 billion in inflows, leaving new entrants to compete in an established category. FRUT instead aims at artificial intelligence hardware and platforms through one exchange-traded product, marking a sharp change in emphasis after eighteen months of crypto-product development. The question is whether the pivot represents a durable strategic change or simply a more flexible route to thematic investing. For now, Yorkville has replaced withdrawn crypto registrations with a live AI-focused fund, while leaving open the possibility of revisiting digital assets under a different framework.
