While other prominent financial firms have embraced the successful spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Vanguard has stood out for not giving its clientele trading access to any of the 11 BTC products that became available in mid-January.
Salim Ramji, who last month took the reins at Vanguard from outgoing CEO Tim Buckley, has poured cold water on the idea that he has intentions for the investment giant to join the cryptocurrency ETF gold rush.
No Crypto ETFs At Vanguard
The new Vanguard CEO has maintained that the world’s second-largest asset manager has no plans to enter the Bitcoin ETF game. There is no exception for ETFs directly holding other cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum (ETH), Ripple’s XRP, and Solana’s SOL.
“We will not be launching crypto ETFs,” Ramji affirmed in an Aug. 14 interview, citing the company’s commitment to its investment philosophy.
Less than one year ago, Ramij worked for Vanguard’s chief rival, serving as Head of iShares and Index Investments at BlackRock. Notably, Ramij was a force in the Wall Street giant’s decision to offer and secure approval for the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) — which is now the world’s largest BTC exchange-traded fund.
“The underlying technology that underpins Bitcoin and the blockchain technology, is something that we’re incredibly excited about, and we’re excited about it because it removes frictions or at least has the promise of removing frictions across the ecosystem,” Ramji posited last July after BlackRock first submitted its filing to introduce the ETF.
But at Vanguard, he has a different viewpoint. “I’m not going to copy competitors. It’s important that a company stay consistent with who they are,” Ramji opined.
Why Vanguard Is Not Interested In Bitcoin ETFs
Vanguard will remain consistent in terms of its core values, avoiding extreme deviations from the established principles of its founder Jack Bogle, Ramji stated. Bogle is well known to have preferred assets with intrinsic cash flow over commodities such as Bitcoin. In fact, he told investors in 2017 to “avoid Bitcoin like the plague.”
While staying true to its core, the investment titan plans to focus on products that protect investors from downside risks:
“We have been very focused on helping clients accumulate assets, but the industry hasn’t done much to help on drawdowns. I want to focus on new products like retirement income and other drawdown strategies with a range of tools and advice.”
Despite Vanguard shunning spot crypto-based ETFs, the highly regulated BTC funds have seen unparalleled inflows since their debut. The ETFs registered “more than three times the largest one-year inflow of any ETF ever in the history of ETFs,” the Global Head of ETFs for Grayscale, Dave LaValle, declared on Monday. “So we’re talking about massive, massive adoption.”
