Vanguard is opening up its intermediary platform to crypto-focused ETFs and mutual funds, abandoning its long-held policy of keeping digital asset products off-the-shelf.
Starting Tuesday, the company will allow funds holding Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and Solana to trade, putting crypto exposure on the same footing as non-core assets such as gold, which it already supports. bloomberg Reported.
This change will give more than 50 million brokerage customers across the U.S. funds industry access to regulated crypto wrappers.
The change in direction followed months of internal review and comes as customers continue to have interest in digital assets despite a sharp market decline.
The 11 Spot Bitcoin ETFs that debuted in early 2024 saw massive inflows, increasing their total assets to around $25 billion in the first month. Vanguard refused to provide access, leaving the company on the sidelines as those assets ballooned to about $125 billion in less than two years.
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, the group’s largest, now holds about $70 billion, down from a peak of nearly $99.5 billion, SosoValue reported. data is shown.
Cryptocurrencies are the least of BlackRock’s $13.5 trillion in global assets under management, while Vanguard, the world’s second-largest asset manager, manages about $11 trillion.
In July 2024, iShares veteran Salim Ramzi became Vanguard’s CEO.
Unlike his predecessor Tim Buckley and the company as a whole, Lamy has publicly supported both Bitcoin and blockchain.
According to bloomberg This is a “first ever” for Vanguard to hire an outsider for a top position, said ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, who tweeted earlier this year that he was “semi-shocked” by the move.
Mr. Lamy worked for Vanguard’s biggest competitor and was head of iShares and index investing at BlackRock. Specifically, Ramij oversaw IBIT’s application and logistics.
