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.”
Based in the United States, Vanguard is the second-largest asset manager in the world, with over $7.2 trillion in assets under management (AUM), only following Blackrock. The company’s broad business divisions also 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
— Emin Gün Sirer🔺 (@el33th4xor) January 11, 2024
Following the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 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.
Evaluation of Bitcoin ETFs Ongoing
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 Blomberg report suggests that Zurich-headquartered UBS will offer several Bitcoin ETFs to some of its wealth management clients…
