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More than a dozen financial firms are involved in the new Bitcoin exchange-traded funds that began trading on Thursday, but one of the world's largest fund issuers and asset managers still won't touch cryptocurrencies.
A Vanguard spokeswoman told CNBC that the asset management giant has no plans to create its own Bitcoin ETF or even offer funds from other issuers on its trading platform.
“While we continually evaluate our brokerage offerings and evaluate new product launches in the market, spot Bitcoin ETFs will not be available for purchase on the Vanguard platform. “We also have no plans to offer Vanguard Bitcoin ETFs or other crypto-related products,” the statement said.
“In our view, these products do not fit with our offering, which focuses on asset classes such as stocks, bonds and cash, which Vanguard views as building blocks of a balanced, long-term investment portfolio,” the statement continued.
Vanguard is one of two dominant players in the US ETF market. Its main competitor BlackRock entered the Bitcoin space with the launch of the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) on Thursday.
Headquartered just outside Philadelphia, Vanguard has earned a reputation as a low-cost and more conservative investment manager. Beginning in the 1970s, under its founder Jack Bogle, Vanguard helped reduce costs for investors by introducing passive stock index funds that tracked broader markets and, on average, outperformed highly paid active managers. She also continually reduced her fees.
Bogle died in 2019 and Vanguard now manages more than $8 trillion in assets, but still operates according to the more cautious beliefs of its founder.
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