The ETF Era Is Ending | Brian Huang on VS1

Exchange-traded funds were built for a world where direct ownership was operationally difficult. Custody was complex, settlement was fragmented, and accessing diversified exposure required infrastructure that most investors simply did not have. The ETF solved that problem by wrapping assets into a single, convenient instrument.

In his recent conversation on VS1, Brian Huang explains why that model may no longer be necessary. As assets move onchain, the constraints that justified wrappers begin to disappear. When investors can hold the underlying asset directly, without friction, they gain more than exposure. They gain utility: voting rights, yield, staking, governance, and composability across protocols.

This shift is already visible in the rise of direct indexing in traditional markets. Tokenization accelerates it further. If ownership becomes programmable, the wrapper becomes optional.

🎧 Watch the full conversation below.