Bitcoin ETF: Jim Bianco Defends Vanguard’s CEO From Critics

After Tim Buckley, Vanguard CEO declared categorically that his company was not interested in engaging with spot Bitcoin ETFs, financial advisor Jim Bianco took to X to defend him against the criticism that arose as a result of his statement.

Vanguard Is Adamant on Spot Bitcoin ETF

When spot Bitcoin ETFs got approved by the United States SEC in January, quite some large asset management firms including BlackRock, Fidelity Investments, Grayscale Investments, and WisdomTree became the primary pioneers in offering the nascent product. 

Vanguard, on the other hand, was clear about its refusal to take part in the spot Bitcoin ETF market. The decision led to some criticism from other crypto players. Ark Invest Cathie Wood even called the move “terrible,” citing that it will deprive Vanguard users of a decentralized monetary system. 

Recently, Buckley reiterated his firm’s stance on the spot Bitcoin ETF offering, stating that Vanguard would not consider it unless the asset class changes. An X post bearing the news went viral but Bianco discovered that the replies to the post were “a bunch of really bad takes from the crypto community.” 

Hence, he decided to share his perspective, defending Buckley. 

BlackRock and Vanguard Comparison

He started by first painting a scenario where he likened BlackRock to an 800-pound Gorilla in ETFs and Vanguard to an 850-pound Gorilla. For context, he further explained that BlackRock, which ordinarily has up to $2.84 trillion in ETF assets, registered about $2.6 billion in inflows last week out of the total inflows of $18.19 billion. 

The replies to this tweet have a bunch of really bad takes from the crypto community.

Some perspective
—-
If BlackRock is the 800-pound Gorilla in ETFs, Vanguard is the 850-pound Gorilla.

As of March 15
BlackRock, $2.84T in ETF assets. Inflows into all their ETFs last week… https://t.co/ERcrOxJ7Z0

— Jim Bianco (@biancoresearch) March 17, 2024

During the same period, Vanguard, which has about $2.58 trillion in assets, ended up with $29.44 billion as inflows into all its ETFs. Markedly, this did not include spot Bitcoin ETFs. Bianco’s comparison was to show that Vanguard’s refusal to not list spot Bitcoin ETFs, has not been detrimental. 

Furthermore, Bianco debunked the rumors that Buckley was fired from Vanguard for failing to adopt spot Bitcoin ETFs. He went on to clarify that he is retiring although he still has about nine months more to remain Vanguard’s CEO. 

“Buckley’s legacy will be one of the most successful asset managers in Wall Street history. And to suggest that he’s being fired for ‘missing’ on one ETF that might account for 1/1,000th of their total assets, which is now over $9 trillion, is utterly laughable,” Bianco added.