Vanguard users are threatening to close their accounts as the company rejects cryptocurrency
Asset management firm Vanguard’s decision not to permit purchasing of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) on its platform has apparently driven some customers away.
The Wall Street Journal reported on January 11 that Vanguard says it won’t offer spot Bitcoin ETFs on its brokerage platform because it doesn’t align with its traditional products. “Spot bitcoin ETFs will not be available for purchase on the Vanguard platform,” said Vanguard in a statement to the WSJ. “We also have no plans to offer Vanguard bitcoin ETFs or other crypto-related products.”
🚨NEW: @Vanguard_Group, the world’s second largest asset manager behind @BlackRock, is reportedly blocking its customers from buying into the new $BTC Spot ETFs, saying the products “don’t fit with Vanguard’s investment philosophy.”
Now we’ll start to see how institutional… https://t.co/LmZodeYyad
— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) January 11, 2024
Vanguard wasn’t one of the 14 firms that applied for a spot Bitcoin ETF in 2023, with some investors seeing recent actions as motivation to transfer assets to other platforms. Yuga Cohler, senior engineering manager at Coinbase, was among those who said they’d be converting their Vanguard Roth 401(k) savings to Fidelity, which also issued its spot Bitcoin ETFs on January 11.
Bitcoin commentator Neil Jacobs says he’ll also be transferring funds from Vanguard in reaction to the decision. “Terrible business decision by Vanguard,” he commented.
The WSJ also reported that Citi, Edward Jones, Merrill Lynch and UBS customers conveyed they also couldn’t purchase spot Bitcoin ETFs on those platforms. However, spot Bitcoin ETF trading was available on JPMorgan’s brokerage platform, which is a certified member of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF.
The first day of spot Bitcoin ETF trading was on January 10 after a lengthy approval process by regulators. Volume was over 4.5 billion on the initial day, with most traffic coming from Grayscale, BlackRock and Fidelity Bitcoin ETFs.
