Vanguard Rejects Bitcoin ETFs, Cites Misalignment with “Focused Asset Classes”

Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have created a lot of hype in the market. However, the demand for the just-listed products failed to convince one major American player. The brokerage arm of Vanguard confirmed that it will not allow customers to trade Bitcoin ETFs on its platform.

“While we continuously evaluate our brokerage offer and evaluate new product entries to the market, spot Bitcoin ETFs will not be available for purchase on the Vanguard platform,” a Vanguard spokesperson confirmed to the media, adding that the company has “no plans to offer Vanguard Bitcoin ETFs or other crypto-related products.”

Some Financial Giants Are Still against Crypto

Based in the United States, Vanguard is the second-largest asset manager in the world, with over $7.2 trillion in assets under management, only following Blackrock. The company's broad business divisions include retail brokerage.

“Our perspective is that these products do not align with our offer focused on asset classes such as equities, bonds, and cash, which Vanguard views as the building blocks of a well-balanced, long-term investment portfolio,” the spokesperson added.

If your retirement account is at Vanguard, just move it to Fidelity.Establishment folks underestimate the extent of Bitcoin and crypto ownership in the US, and keep on commiting blunders like this. This new asset class is here to stay. https://t.co/obylIzXC9f

Following the Securities and Exchange Commission approval, 11 Bitcoin ETF issuers listed their products on US exchanges yesterday (Thursday). On the first day, demand for the Bitcoin investment vehicles poured in, with volume soaring to $4.6 billion. Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF, converted from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, led the pack with $2.3 billion in volume, followed by BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust-IBIT with $1 billion.

Ongoing Evaluation of Bitcoin ETFs

Meanwhile, Vanguard is not the only broker restricting access to the popular Bitcoin ETFs. According to The Wall Street Journal report, many customers of Citi, Merill Lynch, Edward Jones, and UBS also complained of inaccessibility to the Bitcoin ETFs.

Bank of America’s Merill Edge, the capital markets division, is still evaluating whether to offer the Bitcoin ETF products or not. However, the company did not confirm anything officially.

However, a Bloomberg report suggested that Zurich-headquartered UBS will offer several Bitcoin ETFs to some of its wealth management clients with brokerage accounts who approach on an unsolicited basis.

Citi additionally confirmed to Coindesk, a crypto-focused media, that it “currently provides our institutional clients with access to the recently approved Bitcoin ETFs from an execution and asset servicing perspective.” The New York-based banking giant is further “evaluating the products for individual Wealth clients.”

I’m confused, why would someone own a Bitcoin ETF over actual Bitcoin?Also, why does everyone now want the Federal Government to back Bitcoin?Bitcoin would then become more centralized, which everyone hated from the start but now it’s good?What a circus.

Despite some giants' hesitation, several others offered Bitcoin ETFs to their clients. Charles Schwab, one of the major American brokerages, confirmed its decision to offer Bitcoin ETFs. Robinhood, which is more retail-centric, is offering all 11 listed Bitcoin ETFs since the first day of listing.

“We believe crypto is the financial framework of the future and that increased access to Bitcoin via ETFs is a good thing for the industry,” said Johann Kerbrat, the GM of Robinhood Crypto. Apart from the ETFs, Robinhood itself offers cryptocurrencies to its customers.