KEY POINTS
- Vanguard had expressed its plan not to offer spot Bitcoin ETFs even before the SEC’s approval
- The BlackRock rival is one of the top players in the U.S. exchange-traded fund market
- ‘We also have no plans to offer Vanguard Bitcoin ETFs or other crypto-related products’: Vanguard
Vanguard, a global leader in asset management, has decided not to allow its clients to purchase the recently authorized spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds even though the crypto investment vehicle smashed records as it saw over $4.5 billion on its debut on U.S. exchanges.
Over a dozen financial firms started offering the newly approved Bitcoin ETFs on Thursday, with BlackRock, Grayscale and Fidelity emerging on top. Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded around $4.5 billion in cumulative trading volume on their first day.
However, the eagerly awaited crypto investment vehicle is not available for purchase in one of the biggest fund issuers in the world, Vanguard.
“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. We also have no plans to offer Vanguard Bitcoin ETFs or other crypto-related products,” Vanguard said in a statement.
“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,” it added.
Vanguard is one of the top players in the U.S. exchange-traded fund market. Its rival, BlackRock, entered the Bitcoin arena with its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which commenced trading Thursday.
Even before the spot Bitcoin ETFs were approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Vanguard had expressed its intention not to offer the crypto investment vehicle.
“Vanguard believes that the investment case for cryptocurrencies is weak,” the company’s representative said at the time. “Unlike stocks and bonds, most crypto assets lack intrinsic economic value and generate no cash flows. And cryptocurrencies’ high volatility runs counter to our goal of helping investors generate positive real returns over the long term.”
Industry watchers and analysts are confident of the benefits spot Bitcoin ETFs would bring to investors and the broader cryptocurrency industry, which is why it has been a hot topic in finance over the past months.
Robert Quartly-Janeiro, chief strategy officer at the forward-thinking cryptocurrency exchange Bitrue, outlined those benefits to International Business Times.
“It’s been a wild week for BTC and digital currency markets, but also a historic one; we’ll look back on it for a long time to come. As the eleven approved ETFs come to market, it’s exciting to anticipate their impact on trading volumes and price dynamics. Notably, when major investment firms like BlackRock begin offering these ETFs on their platforms, a notable increase in activity is expected,” Janeiro said.
“As an asset, BTC moved up the rankings, with only a handful of equities and commodities outperforming it in value, such as Apple Inc., Saudi Aramco, Gold, and Amazon. That said, though, the US ETF approvals indicate that BTC is very much here to stay and that its development and adoption will continue,” the executive added.
Meanwhile, the total volume across 10 spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded over $4.5 billion for day-one trading.
BlackRock’s IBIT was on top among newly approved funds by handling over $1 billion in volume, making up 22% of the total volume, Yahoo Finance data showed. Behind it was Fidelity’s BTC ETF, with around $685 million in total trading on its first day.
