Vanguard, the world’s second-largest asset management company with over $9 trillion in assets under management, is set to welcome a new CEO, Salim Ramji. This appointment has sparked expectations within the crypto community regarding a potential shift in Vanguard’s cryptocurrency policy, as Ramji played a crucial role in the listing of the BlackRock Bitcoin Spot ETF. However, he poured cold water on the market today…
(Previous Summary: Vanguard appoints BlackRock Bitcoin ETF advocate as new CEO, will their anti-crypto stance change?)
(Background: $9 trillion in Bitcoin? Vanguard “regrets not launching spot ETF,” biggest resistance against crypto CEO announces retirement)
Table of Contents:
New Vanguard CEO reaffirms commitment to current stance
Reasons for banning Bitcoin spot ETF trading
Bitcoin spot ETF estimated to attract over 700 institutional investors with a scale of $500 million
In January of this year, Vanguard faced widespread criticism from the crypto community and even sparked boycotts and capital withdrawals after refusing to offer Bitcoin spot ETF trading services to its clients and discontinuing the purchase of cryptocurrency products. Against this backdrop, CEO Tim Buckley announced his retirement in March, with the community speculating that his anti-crypto stance may have played a role in his departure. On the 14th, former BlackRock executive Salim Ramji was appointed as the new CEO and will assume office on July 8th. As Ramji was responsible for BlackRock’s global iShares business, and played a crucial role in the launch and approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF, this appointment has sparked expectations within the community of a potential shift in Vanguard’s cryptocurrency policy.
However, in an interview with Barron’s today, Ramji poured cold water on the idea of Vanguard offering its own Bitcoin spot ETF. He stated:
As for why Vanguard does not offer cryptocurrency-related products on its brokerage platform, Janel Jackson, Global Head of ETF Capital Markets at Vanguard, explained at the end of January that the company sees cryptocurrency more as speculation rather than investment, and this is the fundamental reason why Vanguard decided not to offer cryptocurrency-related products.
Vanguard’s customer service representatives have also explained the rationale behind this decision, stating:
The spokesperson further confirmed that there are currently no plans to launch a Bitcoin spot ETF or other cryptocurrency-related products, emphasizing:
In summary, Vanguard believes that cryptocurrencies are “highly speculative,” “highly volatile,” and “lack regulation,” which does not align with the company’s core long-term investment philosophy. Therefore, Vanguard refuses to offer cryptocurrency products on its platform and has no plans to launch its own Bitcoin spot ETF or other cryptocurrency-related products.
However, with more and more institutions disclosing their holdings of Bitcoin spot ETFs in their 13F reports, it is evident that there is increasing interest in Bitcoin among institutions. As of last Thursday, a total of 563 professional investment firms reported holding positions in Bitcoin spot ETFs, with a total value of $3.5 billion. Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise, one of the issuers of Bitcoin spot ETFs, predicts that there may be over 700 institutions disclosing their holdings of Bitcoin spot ETFs by the submission deadline (15th), with assets under management reaching $5 billion.
In the face of growing institutional interest in Bitcoin spot ETFs, will Vanguard be able to maintain its stance?
Further reading:
US Institutional Holdings Report: A glimpse of which financial giants have entered the Bitcoin ETF market?
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