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Vanguard Group Inc. is weighing whether to allow trading of cryptocurrency-focused exchange-traded funds on its platform, a move that would mark a major easing of its restrictive stance toward the popular but volatile asset class.
Should the switch go through, it would open the door for Vanguard’s more than 50 million investors — with some $11 trillion in assets — to gain easier entry to digital assets. Vanguard itself doesn’t manage any crypto ETFS, and clients of the Valley Forge, Pennsylvania-based investment giant currently can’t trade other firms’ Bitcoin and Ether ETFs on its site.
“We continuously evaluate our brokerage offer, investor preferences, and the evolving regulatory environment,” a Vanguard spokesperson said. “If and when a decision is made, clients will hear directly from Vanguard.”
The asset manager has for years spoken out against cryptocurrencies, saying that Bitcoin isn’t appropriate for long-term investors and that the asset class overall is “immature.” Its addition to portfolios could wreak “havoc,” its strategists have said. Former Chief Executive Officer Tim Buckley said Vanguard would never launch a Bitcoin fund, and its famous founder Jack Bogle once advised investors to avoid the digital coin “like the plague.”
But to industry watchers, the assumption of Salim Ramji, a veteran of BlackRock Inc. who succeeded Buckley to became Vanguard’s CEO last year, was a key development. Unlike his predecessor, Ramji — the first outsider ever to lead Vanguard — has expressed interest in blockchain technology and Bitcoin.
The launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024 took the industry by storm, with fund inflows shattering records. Ether joined the party a few months later, when regulators approved the first spot ETFs tied to the second-largest cryptocurrency.
Collectively, Bitcoin ETFs now manage more than $142 billion, with BlackRock’s IBIT commanding roughly $84 billion. Some $24 billion of that amount has come in this year alone, which places the fund in the top-five accumulators of flows among all U.S. ETFs.
With investor appetite for digital assets showing little sign of waning, the asset class has become harder to ignore. Meanwhile, the White House, under President Donald Trump, has orchestrated a crypto push and hedge funds, pensions and banks have lavished capital into these and similar types of products. BlackRock’s Ether fund, ETHA, sports $15 billion in assets.
The news about Vanguard’s potential shift was first reported by Crypto in America, a newsletter.
Last year, Bloomberg Intelligence forecast that Vanguard may reverse its Bitcoin ban.
“The astounding success of the ETFs added a lot to the pressure,” said Bloomberg Intelligence’s Eric Balchunas, author of The Bogle Effect and a BI senior ETF analyst. “Had Bitcoin ETFs been a flop, I don’t think they would consider lifting the ban.”
